


Pulse

by damagectrl



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Action & Romance, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Bounty Hunters, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Eventual Romance, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-25
Updated: 2021-01-23
Packaged: 2021-03-02 06:27:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 46,963
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23846713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/damagectrl/pseuds/damagectrl
Summary: The war of conquest comes to a crashing halt when the death of Azulon puts brother against brother, with anti-war Iroh claiming victory.  A young Zuko escapes capture and flees to the former colonies, hiding out for ten years, evading his uncle’s men.While Zuko was prepared for any Fire Nation detectives and soldiers after him, he finds himself grossly unprepared for a waterbending prodigy turned bounty hunter who has yet to fail to bring in her target.
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 98
Kudos: 299





	1. One

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve been writing SM and ML fics like mad during the last few weeks because I wanted to post something for people who were stuck at home, or just were having a bad time, in hopes of easing them, even if it was for just a little bit. I’m lucky to be able to work from home and I had some time in between work emails and cursing other departments. Then, I realized I haven’t done anything for Zutara, which I hold near and dear to my cold, dark heart. I chatted with my amazing writing buddy, ebontien, about this and she helped me sort my thoughts. Shout out to her for all her help, as usual! So, here’s a three part fic for you guys I hope to finish by June. Second chapter should be up in mid-May. (I may have gotten too caught up writing multiple fics at once, but this is all I can do for others right now.) <3

The room was smaller and less ornate than the Fire Lord’s throne room. There was no low wall of flames separating him from those that sought an audience with him. There were no stone columns flanking either side of him and guards in their cold, red armour weren’t lining the walls. 

This room was modest, more intimate. One side opened to a courtyard garden with a small pond and rock garden decorated with cloud-like swirls. There were comfortable cushions on the floor and a low table, putting him on equal level with those who didn’t seek the Fire Lord’s audience, but just Iroh’s company. 

He lifted a small, white ceramic cup to his lips and closed his eyes, inhaling the warm, calming scent of the fresh brewed tea before taking a long, appreciative sip. 

“Ah....” Across from him, a tall, slender elderly man with brown skin and snow white hair opened his eyes as he lowered his cup, his shoulders lowering as he let out a low, content breath. His blue Water Tribe clothes had been replaced with thinner, blue robes to deal with the heat he detested. “There is nothing like a fine cup of tea after such a long day.” 

“You three must’ve had your hands full today with the on-going trade negotiations,” an old man, like the rest of the Fire Lord’s current compatriots, had gray hair in a neat top knot. Not a strand was out of place; as expected of the swordmaster. “I don’t envy you one bit.” 

Beside him, a man with wild white hair lifted up his tea cup and agreement. “I’ll review the current firebending assessment tests any day over being stuck in a meeting room with those lots.” 

“Jeong Jeong, I believe you were complaining the other night that the current standards are so weak that a child could pass them and that you’d never finish reforming the tests while you were alive.” The Water Tribe elder smirked. 

The former Fire Nation Admiral snorted. “I didn’t say it was enjoyable. I only said I’d rather suffer through it over meetings.” 

The group of five old men chuckled amongst themselves. 

Iroh smiled pleasantly as he took another sip of his tea. “Thank you all for joining me this evening for some tea and a game,” he said, motioning one hand to where Bumi sat to the side, rubbing his chin as he eyed the pai sho board. “No one at the palace is any good. I want a challenge.”

“Well, a challenge you’ll have!” Bumi said. He moved a piece. Collectively, save for Iroh, the men around the table let out a pained hiss. Bumi cocked his head. “What?”

Iroh chuckled. He moved his hand over the board and moved another piece, cornering Bumi. 

“That,” Pakku said in a deadpan voice, pointing with his pinky as he held his cup. “That’s what.” 

Bumi stared at the pai sho table. “Permission to back track?”

“Permission denied.” Iroh chuckled. “That is the game, my friend. So...who is next?”

“I believe I was set to play the winner.” Pakku placed his empty cup on the table and switched places with Bumi. 

“Oh, this will be a good game.” Piandao poured Bumi some tea as Iroh and Pakku rearranged the board to prepare for their game. “Pakku, does Sokka play?” 

“Sokka is more a...think on his feet type of strategist,” Pakku said with some reluctance. “He’s very adaptive and clever. He’d be good at the game if he had any interest.” 

“He’s a bright boy, you should insist,” Bumi said. “Where is he now?”

“The Republic,” Pakku said. “He’s working on some inventions for fishing and trading vessels, but needs some steel works.”

“If he wanted steel, why didn’t he come here?” Jeong Jeong asked. 

“We have been trying to adjust our manufacturing industry in recent years,” Iroh said with a nod. “A mind like your grandson’s could have his pick.”

“He says it’s too hot.” Pakku’s voice was droll. “And I can’t say I don’t agree.” 

“It wouldn’t be so hot if you’d just wear a shorter sleeved shirt,” Bumi said. “Look at you four...all covered from head to toe when it’s sweltering outside. Iroh and the rest of these old hot air bags I can understand, but you, Pakku?”

Pakku didn’t flinch. He remained in perfect posture across from Iroh as they decided who would make the first move. “Forgive me if I don’t find it comfortable baring my arms and legs.” 

“Why not?” Bumi flexed a sleeveless arm and grinned. “It’s freeing.”

Piandao and Jeong Jeong laughed. “At least tie your hair up more,” Piandao said with a smirk. “You look even older with that saggy wolf tail.”

This time Pakku looked affronted. “I’ll have you know this wolf tail is of cultural significance.”

“Yeah, culturally old....” Bumi seemed to mutter under his breath. Pakku shot them all a glare. 

“You know, even Kanna has her hair up when she visits,” Jeong Jeong said. “Such a respectable and sensible elder.” He paused. “I still can’t believe she let you marry her.”

Pakku scoffed and moved a piece. “Clearly, it’s because she’s deeply in love with me.” 

“But she didn’t come with you this time,” Piandao said. 

“This time it is for political and economic reasons,” Pakku said. “I came with Hakoda.” 

“Ah...the step-son.” Jeong Jeong nodded. “Has he given thought to remarriage?” 

“Jeong Jeong,” Iroh said in a disappointed voice. “If a man does not wish to remarry after the love of their life passes, let them be.” 

“Ah...my apologies, Iroh. I didn’t mean to infer....” He trailed off, the group falling into silence. 

Iroh never remarried after his wife had passed, either. The man who ended a near hundred year long war and wrestled power from a war hungry brother to subdue and control an entire nation with the goal of steering it towards a balanced peace was alone in the world. 

When Iroh lost his son in Ba Sing Se, his entire view of the war changed. However, it was when his father died and his brother seized power that he could no longer stand to sit idly by. In the chaos of Azulon’s death and Ozai’s grab for the throne, Iroh’s sister-in-law and niece were killed. Ozai was captured, but later died in prison.

The deaths were not something he wanted. Ozai was only to be restrained.

Ursa and Azula were never meant to die when the palace was stormed. And his nephew, whom he adored, vanished. No body was found. No records of him or someone with his appearance, fleeing the Fire Nation existed. The entire country was combed to find Prince Zuko, but he was not to be found. 

“Has there been any news about the boy?” Piandao’s voice was serious and somber. It seemed everyone in the small room had their thoughts go directly to the one member of Iroh’s family who could still possibly be alive. Though Piandao called him a boy, the missing prince was well in his twenties by now.

Iroh paused over his game. His body tensed. The humid hair was tense.

“No.” His answer was quick, but strained. “I’ve started sending men out to the Republic, but no one has seen him.” 

“Iroh,” Jeong Jeong said with some hesitation “Do you still believe he’s out there?” He chose his words carefully. There were few subjects that were very sensitive to Iroh and the pain of losing his family made the subject of his missing nephew one of them.

“I believe he is,” Iroh said. “We turned the Fire Nation upside down looking for him.”

“But there was no trace of him.” Piandao shook his head.

“However, a bunch of Ozai supporters and the like fled to the former colonies,” Bumi said, leaning back against his arms. “He could’ve been swept up with them.”

“That is why I’ve started sending some of my best men to the Republic to search for him,” Iroh said, his voice tight. He moved a piece and across from him, Pakku frowned and glanced up, as if unsure why Iroh had moved his piece that way. “I believe Zuko is out there and I’ll send as many men as necessary to search for him until he is found.”

Bumi rocked back and forth before glancing at Pakku’s back. “Maybe that’s your problem.”

Piandao and Jeong Jeong looked over at the crazy looking earthbender. Iroh furrowed his brows. Pakku moved a piece, taking one of Iroh’s in an unusual quick attack. Iroh normally wouldn't have made such a move. 

“What are you talking about?” Jeong Jeong sounded annoyed. “Are you telling him to stop his search?”

Bumi shook his head. “Maybe it’s because you’ve been sending the wrong people.” 

“Well, who else is he going to send?” Jeong Jeong demanded. Piandao sat up and held up his hand to calm him. Bumi didn’t seem at all fazed. 

“Pakku,” he said, looking back at the waterbender with a grin. “How’s your granddaughter?” 

Piandao lowered his head into his hand and let out a heavy, tired sigh. Pakku’s granddaughter was _his_ touchy subject. It was well known that Pakku adored her; loved her like his own flesh and blood. She was a brilliant waterbender, both gifted in battle and healing. She was Pakku’s precious princess and he had taken great consideration on who she would marry, as Northern Water Tribe customs dictacted.

Except, his granddaughter was raised as the sole remaining waterbender of the _Southern_ Water Tribe. Their customs were much more lax and when he presented her with a young bender from the North he thought would be suitable, the young waterbending master refused. 

Things grew heated and culminated in his granddaughter leaving the Southern Water Tribe at fifteen, engagement-free. She had not returned for more than a visit since.

It devastated Pakku. 

“Bumi, what are you saying?” Jeong Jeong nearly yelled as he jumped to his feet. He motioned directly to Pakku. “You know what the situation is!”

“I _do_ know what the situation is,” Bumi said, nodding his head. “I just saw her a few months ago. And I also know that Pakku keeps track of her.”

Jeong Jeong and Piandao looked surprised at this. Iroh looked at Pakku. “Have you reconciled?”

“There is nothing to reconcile,” Pakku said, stiff. “It isn’t as if I have ever disowned her. My love for my granddaughter remains as it always was.” 

“But she still won’t come home, will she?” Piandao asked. Pakku shot him a pointed look.

“Katara is living her own life as she wants,” Pakku said. “And truth be told, she is living it skillfully.”

Jeong Jeong narrowed his eyes, suspicious. “Then, what is she doing now?”

“I can answer that!” Bumi said, raising an arm and grinning from ear to ear. “She’s traveling the Earth Kingdom! And what’s more, she has quite a reputation.”

Pakku frowned. “She’s good at her job. Excellent even. Her track record speaks for itself.”

The other old men looked at him. “Pakku,” Iroh asked, rubbing his chin. “What does Katara do?”

Pakku moved another piece, easily overtaking Iroh. “Katara is considered one of the best in her field.” He was bragging, by all accounts, but didn’t care. “She’s studied under one of the best and coupled with her mastery of waterbending, is formidable. She is naturally resilient and a quick learner. There hasn’t been a target with a pulse she hasn’t brought in.”

At this, the other old men looked intrigued, but confused. The question was written on their faces: what in the world was Pakku’s granddaughter doing?

Bumi laughed and leaned forward, resting his arm on his knee. He beamed a wide smile, knowing exactly what she was doing. 

“Katara of the Southern Water Tribe is a bounty hunter,” he said. He looked over the pai sho board and reached over, moving Iroh’s piece so it overtook one of Pakku’s, surprising them both. Bumi looked at Iroh and winked. “If you want to find your nephew, you should send _her_.” 

* * *

The smithy was hot, loud, and smelled of iron and sweat. The constant clanging of hammers against glowing metal filled the warehouse-like building, mixing with the roar of infernos trapped within numerous forges. Large vents and open doors that took up the walls of the smithy kept the air flowing, but the closer one was to the flames, the hotter it was.

The constant physical activity of shaping metal only made it worse, but a job was a job, and he happened to be good at this one.

Zuko pulled a glowing piece of metal from the fire; its tint signaling that it was ready. It was long and slender, made of high quality ore, as was required. He placed it against an anvil and began the meticulous work of curling one of the ends to make an eyelet. The decorative part was already done and waiting at his workbench. 

He used tongs and a small hammer to do the detail work. His calm, measured breathing and concentration kept the metal hot and pliable. None of the other firebenders who worked at the smithy could do what he did, so when it came to delicate, intricate work, he was the man for the job. 

Satisfied that the curve of the metal was pleasing, he began to cool it; bending the heat steadily from the iron before getting it to a temperature he felt could take a dunk in the water bucket. A small trail of steam fizzled upwards as he held it on to it with a pair of tongs and moved it around.

When he removed it, he held it against one leather glove clad hand and inspected it. 

“Is that it?” A little girl who was watching him work a few steps away looked excited as he lifted his head. 

Two years ago, a local merchant’s young daughter came with her father to to the smithy workshop with a crude drawing of an ornamental hairpin she wanted. 

Because her father was a patron and from one of the foremost families in the city, the smithy owner was more than happy to take on the unusual request. The problem was no one was able to properly produce what the daughter wanted, until Zuko asked to sit down with them to go over it. 

The child went off on a tangent, explaining the story behind her idea, as little children did. He helped her draw out what she wanted and when she was satisfied, he said he would try to make it. A week later, the little girl came back and was beyond delighted to have her own personalized hair pin and became his first real patron. 

Since then, Zuko’s reputation doing detailed metal work had spread through the city and he was used almost exclusively doing intricate work for demanding customers. Luckily for him, the little girl eagerly watching him work was quite easy to work for. He gave her a small, soft smile. 

“Almost. I just have to add the ornament.” 

“Can I watch?” she asked, excited. 

“Yes, but remember to stand a few paces away. Remember, there are sparks,” he told her. She nodded once more and dutifully kept her distance while watching him take a seat at his work bench and unbox a coiled metal ball with small dangling chains made of thin gilded strips of metal. The fine, elegant work was attached to the eyelet and Zuko heated a tool to secure it. 

Once it was completed, he began to shine it with a piece of cloth. 

“Li, can I come closer and see now?” she asked. 

“Okay, but watch your step.” She scrambled closer and stood on the other side of his work bench. 

“Li, is Mr. Won’s daughter’s hairpin...ah....” A voice trailed off into amused laughter. “I see she already found you.” The elderly man in orange robes joined them at ‘Li’s’ work bench with a middle aged man in warm earth tones. 

“Hello, Master Fong.” The little girl brought her hands together and bowed. She then looked at her father beside the smithy’s owner with sparkling eyes. “Daddy, my hair pin is almost done!”

“I see it,” the man said with a chuckle. “It looks lovely. You must thank Li for his amazing work.”

“Thank you, Li!” She threw her arms into the air as she said it. 

Zuko smiled and nodded. “It’s my pleasure, Miss Won. I’m almost done.”

“I’m going to wear it,” the child said as she pulled the hair pin she was wearing from the small bun at the top of her head and handed it to her father. “Is it going to sparkle?”

“Like the stars, once I’m done polishing it.” 

“In that case, I’ll settle the bill. Fei-Fei, are you going to come with Daddy?” the customer asked his daughter. 

She shook his head, a faint flush on her cheeks as she kept her eyes on the man finishing up her hair pin. “I want to watch Li!” 

Her father seemed to falter a bit at her rejection, but smiled weakly. “Then, Li, I leave her to you. Fei-Fei, behave. I’ll be back soon.”

Zuko gave his patron a small nod and continued to work on the hair pin. The owner, Mr. Fong’s, office wasn’t far and it was more a small enclave that overlooked the rest of the workshop area. It was farthest from where the majority of the noise was coming from; the back where larger metal objects were being beaten with hammers. 

Even through the cacophony of sounds from the workshop, Zuko could still hear his employer talking to the customer. 

“I’ve been meaning to ask, but I was worried it was a sensitive topic,” Mr. Won said. “What happened to Li’s eye?”

It was a common question, though most people seemed to ask in an indirect way so as not to offend him. The glaring burn scar across his left eye made him stand out and, normally, he covered it with a leather strip, but when he was working, everyone could see. His co-workers and neighbors were used to seeing him, but the occasional client or new customer would ask. 

“He had an accident when he was apprenticing,” Mr. Fong said. He sighed and shook his head. “A shame to have such a prominent scar, but it’s a miracle he can still see.” 

That was the answer Zuko gave the owner when Mr. Fong finally brought it up. It seemed he had been holding back for some time and Zuko decided to give the most believable answer: an accident at a forge when he was still learning. 

Granted, when he started learning to work with metal at a small forge in a rural village he’d found himself in after fleeing the Fire Nation, he had plenty of accidents in the learning process. However, he’d already had the burn mark across his left eye. 

It was from his father. 

“The poor boy always gets stopped by Fire Nation soldiers when they’re docking,” Mr. Fong continued. He shook his head, in disbelief. “They think he’s the missing prince.” 

He heard Mr. Won laugh. “That’s ridiculous! Everyone knows that the missing prince has a scar on his other side.”

Zuko continued polishing the hair pin until it glistened, pretending he didn’t hear the conversation. He reached into a wooden box under his work bench for a small box to put it in, but the little girl stopped him.

“Wait, I want to wear it, Li!”

He smiled and nodded. “All right, but I’m still going to give you a box for it to keep it safe when you’re not wearing it.”

She smiled wide. “Okay!” He handed it to her little sticky fingers and she held it up, examining it before nodding with satisfaction. When her father and the owner returned, she insisted her father help her put it on. 

Mr. Won slipped Zuko some coins and gave him a kind thanks before taking his daughter’s hand and being dragged away so she could show their neighbors. 

“It looks like you’ll be getting another wave of commissions for hair pins soon,” Mr. Fong told Zuko as Zuko cleaned up his workbench. He looked over at his forge and made a sweeping motion of his arms to snuff out the fire for the day. “I don’t know how you have patience to work on such things.”

“I like the concentration,” Zuko said. He liked being kept distracted was more like it. As frustrating as all the detail work could be sometimes, once he got into it, it was a nice escape from the thoughts that haunted the back of his mind. “I’m going to head home for the day, Mr. Fong.”

“See you tomorrow, Li.” 

He untied the leather apron he wore when he worked and slung it over the somewhat clean workbench that was his station. He reached into a small metal crate beneath his desk and took out a dull brown, outer robe. It was a relatively recent purchase, one he’d saved up his spare earnings for two months to buy, and he’d taken pains to keep it from getting singed like his last robe. 

He then pocketed the coins Mr. Won had given him and waved good-bye to the other smiths readying to go home. The smithy had a combination of earthbenders and firebenders; something very typical of former colony towns. After several generations of living together and intermarriage, of being settled in the colonized regions, there were issues that arose when the Fire Nation withdrew from the war. 

When he first arrived on the continent, the former colonies were a sort of no-man’s land only held together by individual townships and their self-governing. The Earth Kingdom wanted them back, but there were many Fire Nation colonizers that had been born there and lived there their entire lives. It was their home and their families were there.

It became clear that they wouldn’t split up families and return to the Fire Nation, nor did they want to go to the Earth Kingdom and face animosity for a situation they didn’t choose. Zuko was sure that they’d be handed over to the Earth Kingdom. 

It surprised him that the colonized region, due to its unique circumstances, became an independent joint republic. He found himself making a typical migration to its largest city, which resided on a large, promising bay, to look for a job. Mr. Won was a third generation smithy owner and after assessing Zuko’s abilities, hired him. 

He was thankful to the old man for the opportunity, but still gave a false name and history. He couldn’t risk anyone, even those he respected and held gratitude for, to find out who he really was: the son of a deceased Fire Nation prince in hiding. Li was a common enough name that it didn’t stand out: exactly what Zuko wanted. 

For years, he’d been on the run and always looked over his shoulder, afraid that someone would recognize him and identify him correctly. There were posters around the city and along stops on roads with his face and the message that he was wanted. They grew more and more numerous in recent years and he heard frightening rumors from recent Fire Nation ex-patriots. 

The Fire Lord was looking for him.

Zuko shuddered to think about what that could mean. He’d heard about what happened to the rest of his family, who was branded as traitors after his uncle took over. His father was captured and he heard that Ozai was tortured before taking his own life. His mother was killed in the raid of the capital and his sister was supposedly caught in a crossfire; one he’d escaped by sheer luck.

While his family had moved to the main palace, he had remained in the former prince’s palace further out as punishment for questioning one of his father’s orders. His grandfather died and Iroh had yet to return from the continent, so his father took power and declared himself the Fire Lord. 

It didn’t sit well with Zuko or his mother. His mother suggested they wait for Iroh. Iroh’s son and only child died in Ba Sing Se; it was likely he’d pass the throne to Ozai anyway. However, his father didn’t want to take any risks. He wanted to prove himself better than his brother and planned a full out attack on Ba Sing Se; to succeed where his brother failed. 

The amount of lives it would cost concerned Zuko and he made the mistake of voicing his young opinion. His eye was burned before an entire council and his mother broke down when she found out. She tried to stay with him when he was told to remain in the prince’s palace, but Ozai wouldn’t let her. She became a trapped figurehead in her own home. 

When the city was invaded by Iroh and his forces, Zuko watched the fires spread from his room at the prince’s palace. He tried to find his mother and sister. 

He’d find Azula, fully dressed in her child-sized amour and ready to go into battle to defend their father. Zuko said she didn’t understand. They were overwhelmed. She couldn’t see that from the main palace. She wouldn’t believe him even if she did. Her last words were mocking.

“You won’t survive at all! If I were you, I’d get out of here before Uncle’s forces find you and string you up across the front gates! You’re of no use to us!” She bent fire at him when he tried to grab her. 

At the very least, he thought, he could save his sister. 

But, Azula refused to be saved. He escaped the palace as it burned and spent three days hiding in the streets of the Caldera, scavenging food where he could, when he could. He was terrified of being found by his Uncle. 

It was in some back alley, hudding behind discarded and broken roof tiles, that he heard a passing soldier say that his mother was dead. An emptiness filled him then and he could barely remember sneaking onto a ship headed for the colonies. Twelve years old, orphaned and scarred, he stowed away across the sea.

He’d stolen food and lived in filth. He’d been mocked and shunned, both because of his scar and because he was from the Fire Nation. One of the first things he did was sell his clothes and get a more discreet, less identifiable drab brown clothes. Zuko did random jobs for change for a few months. The only reason he was able to start working in a smithy was because an old woman took pity on him and brought him to her husband to teach.

Zuko spent several of his teen years sleeping on a bed of hay; a far cry from the luxurious silk sheets he’d grown up with. When his master passed away, the old woman suggested he take the craft he’d learned and go to ‘the big city’ to try to get a better job and pay, so he did. 

It led him to where he was now. Sure, it wasn’t as if he was flush with money and he still lived in the small, one room abode built out from former barracks that was in the poorest part of the city, but he had money for food and had an upgraded mattress, a real pillow and blanket, as well as more than just one set of clothes. 

It wasn’t much, but it was better than being stuck in prison or worse: strung across the palace gates as a warning to those who dared challenge the Dragon of the West.

Zuko tied a leather strip across his face, covering most of the burn mark. It never failed to get his share of stares and second glances. He’d felt like getting some noodles for dinner all day and to get to his favorite noodle shop, he’d have to pass by the docks. Where there were docks, there were ships, and he’d learned that where there were ships, there were bound to be Fire Nation soldiers.

“You there!” He closed his eyes and silently swore. “With the eye patch! Don’t move!” 

The last thing he wanted to spoil his day was run in with a suspicious soldier. Again. 

He’d already been stopped twice the last week because of his scar. Each time he had a run-in with Fire Nation soldiers, the anxiety he felt grew less and less and now, it felt almost like an annoyance than a threat to his life. 

He’d successfully reminded them over and over that, in accordance to the wanted posters, _his_ scar was on the wrong side. Therefore, he couldn’t possibly be the missing prince. Would the missing prince be dressed as poorly as he was? Would the missing prince have unkempt short hair and calloused hands? 

They would think to check with Ozai sympathizers who would have reason to harbor the missing prince. 

Of course, Zuko made sure to avoid those sympathizers as well. They’d sooner out him as the missing prince than anyone. 

He stood in place and waited for the men who called him out to reach him. He could tell at once that they were Fire Nation soldiers from their red and black armour and helmets. Zuko knew the routine. 

“You want to see my eye,” he said in a droll voice. 

The soldier stood up straight and nodded. “Remove your eye covering, sir.” 

Zuko moved his arms slowly and reached to untie the leather strip. He removed it from his eye and watched the soldier’s reaction. The soldier squinted and motioned for his companion to look and confirm.

“If this is about that missing prince, I’ve already been stopped several times,” Zuko said, unable to keep the irritation from his voice. “I keep telling you guys: don’t you see the wanted posters? And that play about the take over of the Caldera? The prince’s scar is on his _right_ side. Mine is on my left.”

He pointed to the wall of a near-by building, to one of the many wanted posters of his that littered the city. The outline of the face depicted had the scar on the right side. Whoever made that mistake, Zuko could kiss. 

The soldiers shifted and looked at each other before nodding. “My mistake, sir. Have a nice day.”

Zuko let out a small scoff and continued on. He didn’t know why the city even allowed foreign soldiers to do as they wished and stop people. Was there some treaty or arrangement he was unaware of? 

He marched forward, lifting the leather strip back to his face as he passed the large vessels docking at the busy port, his day soured by yet another reminder that he couldn’t shake himself of his past.

* * *

She tilted her head and watched as two soldiers stopped a random citizen on the street just a few steps from the merchant vessel she’d taken from the Fire Nation. She heard that there were still soldiers in the Republic granted with special permission to find the missing royal, but they certainly weren’t going about it the way she would. 

She adjusted her bag on her shoulder as she waited for her brother to come meet her. Sokka, as she presumed, was already late and she was hungry. At the very least, she wanted to settle in before she began her investigation. 

Katara had spent more time than she wanted in the Fire Nation finding out about her latest target: Iroh’s estranged and missing nephew, Prince Zuko, who disappeared the night the Caldera was retaken by Iroh. That had been a decade ago and no one had seen him since.

But there was no body and the last sighting of him was him fleeing in the opposite direction of the fires. The Fire Lord was convinced that he was out there. 

Her grandfather admitted that he wasn’t as convinced as his old friend, but if Prince Zuko was alive, he was confident that she could find him. 

Katara let out a heavy breath. It was good to have her grandfather’s faith again. Their relationship hadn’t been the same since she fled the arranged marriage Pakku had presented her with. Her brother told her Pakku was furious as he had spent so much time selecting a suitable young man from a good family in the North, but then when he realized she wasn’t coming back, had an ‘emotional breakdown’. 

Her father was angry at Pakku for trying to force her to marry and Gran-Gran even told him ‘that’s not how we do things here’. The entire Southern Water Tribe, what little remained of it at the time, couldn’t believe he’d attempted such a thing. He’d always been such a doting grandfather to her. 

Gran-Gran had tried to explain to her that the reason Pakku was so set on arranging for a good partner for her was because he loved her so. He wanted her to have an honorable husband with a suitable family who would respect her and treat her well. That was how daughters were shown how much they were loved back in the North. 

His heart may have been in the right place, but certainly not his head. Katara took her favorite canoe and left in the middle of the afternoon, while Pakku was taking a nap. She didn’t return for three years and by then, she had traveled all over the Earth Kingdom and learned a few skills she’d now count on to track her target. 

June, her mentor, always stressed knowing the target. Not just how they looked and their mannerisms, but their background and their situation. Not necessarily the way they thought, but what could lead them down the path they were on. It could give valuable insight on where they would go and what they were capable of doing. 

That was why Katara spent nearly a month in the Fire Nation trying to dig up everything she could on the missing prince, despite any information she gathered being over ten years old. It was better than nothing.

Now that she had arrived, she had a front row seat to watch the methods of Iroh’s men.

She was not impressed.

“You want to see my eye.” There was a tall young man with dark hair and pale skin in drab Earth Kingdom styled clothing, looking annoyed as the soldiers confronted him. He sounded just as annoyed as he looked and she wondered how many times he’d had to deal with the Fire Nation soldiers. 

She watched him remove the leather strip that acted as a sort of eye patch over his left eye. She narrowed her own. That was some burn mark. 

It wasn’t fresh; the skin was dry and wrinkled. The deep hyperpigmented marks stood out against the rest of his flawless skin, but it lacked the redness and puss of a recent injury. It was an old scar. The size went all the way over his eye, from near the bridge of his nose to his right temple. If he lifted his hand over it, it would cover the entirety of the scar. 

“Katara!” Her concentration was broken by the familiar sound of her brother’s voice. She perked up and turned towards the sound, seeing him waving an arm in the air as if he weren’t the only other Water Tribe dressed person on that particular pier. 

“Sokka!” She beamed a smile as her brother rushed over with open arms. The citizen being questioned by the soldiers was forgotten as she hugged her brother. “Where have you been? I thought you’d forgotten about me.”

He laughed and shook his head, offering his arm to carry her bag as they parted. “Sorry, I got caught up working on a project.”

She rolled her eyes and handed him her bag. “Typical. I knew you’d be late.”

“There’s nothing wrong with being fashionably late,” he said with some pride. “Anyway, I’m hungry and don’t have any food at home. What do you say to some noodles?”  
“Noodles. Soup. Rice porridge.” She lowered her hands to her stomach and wrinkled her nose. “I’ll eat just about anything right now.”

“Noodles it is,” Sokka said, directing her up the pier. “There’s a good place near-by that does three different kinds of noodles. They’re famous for their garlic fire noodles, but their seaweed noodles....” He brought a hand to his lips and made a chef’s kiss into the air. “Best in the city.”

Katara snorted back a laugh. “So, how many times do you go a week?”

“I may have been there yesterday.” Her brother shrugged. “But when do I have time to cook? I’m so busy with the projects and designs. Plus the tests have started and I’ve been tinkering with adjustments.”

“You sound busy.” 

“You’re the one that’s gallivanting around the world,” he said, looking over his shoulder at her. “I thought you’d be coming from home, but you came from the Fire Nation?”

“Grandpa and Dad were at the Caldera and sent for me.”

Sokka raised a brow. “Grandpa wasn’t trying to introduce you to another guy, was he?” He sighed and tilted his head back with a shake. “You’d think he’d learn after you ran away the first time.”

“He didn’t ask for me to introduce me to a prospective husband,” Katara said. She quickened her step to catch up with him. “And I didn’t run away.”

“You’re right.”

“Thanks.”

“You fled like your life depended on it.”

Katara let out a low grumble. Now that she was older, she could see why her actions were more on the extreme side. “Well, what did you expect me to do? I woke up that morning and there was some random guy at our table with a bouquet of ice blossoms and an engagement necklace. I was fifteen!” She scowled. A bit extreme, but she had no regrets.

“Hey, I’m not blaming you,” Sokka said with some reassurance as he raised his hand to calm her. “I would’ve taken off, too. Not sure I’d have gone the bounty hunter route, but as long as you’re happy.” He reached over and gave her a pat on the shoulder as she gave him a droll look. 

“Thanks, Sokka....” 

“By the way, does that mean you were in the Fire Nation for a job?” he asked. 

“Kind of. The job is here, but the client is in the Fire Nation.” 

“Oooh....” Sokka looked interested and leaned in a bit closer. “What’s the job?” he asked in a quiet voice. 

Katara shook her head. “Nope, sorry. It’s top secret.” 

“What? Boo....” He made a face, but kept walking. “Does this mean you’ll get your own place to stay while you’re on the job?”

“I thought you said I could stay with you since you have room at your place.”

“That’s fine with me, but it’s a mess. I have all these parts and designs laying around, so you’ll have to deal. I don’t have much time to clean and a genius like me needs room to work, you know.”

“A genius, huh?” She smirked as they walked along side road that wrapped around the harbor. A series of papers pasted on the walls of buildings caught her attention and she narrowed her eyes. She veered off the path with Sokka to get a better look. 

“One of those wanted posters your guy?” her brother asked. There were several posters up, though most were duplicates. The one that caught her attention was the bold name under an awkward brush painting of a man with a scar over his right eye. 

Prince Zuko. 

She let out a low, exasperated breath and shook her head. “You’re kidding me.” She muttered under her breath as she turned away from the wanted poster. “Almost,” she told her brother as she returned to his side to continue walking. 

“You know, if you tell me, I may be able to help.”

She raised a brow and grinned. “What happened to being a genius with little time?”

He let out a small, mock affronted gasp and lifted his free hand to his chest. “I can spare time to help my little sister.” 

“Uh-huh....” They prepared to cross a street and she looked up. A corner restaurant was bustling with people and she could make out the uniformed servers weaving through the numerous tables with patrons that almost spilled out into the street. “Is that it?”

“Best noodles in town. The crowds can’t be wrong.” Sokka marched over, raising his hand to greet a familiar server as Katara followed. She made it halfway across the street when she caught sight of a fish monger’s cart teetering back and forth. 

An old man was trying to push his cart forward, but one of the wheels was stuck in a muddy pot hole. People were just walking past him, at most giving him a glance of pity before continuing their way. 

“Sir!” She was making her way over before she realized it. “Hold on, I’ll help.” 

The old man was rather skinny and his clothes were worn. His cart looked rather worn as well, but he had plenty of fish. 

“Young lady, it’s a heavy cart,” he said. “I don’t think you can push it.” 

Katara’s hand slid to her side and uncapped her water skin. A small stream came out and she bent it to the hole, freezing it over and making it even with the rest of the ground. The old man’s eyes widened.

“Okay, let’s move this carefully,” she said, ignoring his earlier words as she grabbed on to one of the cart handles and pushed the cart forward. She bent some water into a patch of grooved ice so the wooden tire could get some traction on it’s way to more solid ground. 

“A waterbender....” the old man said, almost wondrously as he followed behind her. “We don’t get many of you here.” 

Katara looked over her shoulder and smiled. “I’m just visiting,” she said. When the cart was on compacted, dry dirt road, she stepped back. “There you go.”

“Thank you, young lady,” the old man said. “Would you like a fish, as thanks?”

“I appreciate the gesture, but I’m just happy to help-”

“If you come by tomorrow, to pier seven’s fish market, I’ll save you some smoked urchin.” 

“Smoked urchin?” Sokka seemed to pop up behind her. “They have that here?” 

“It’s fine, Sokka,” she said, trying to turn him back to the restaurant.

“But smoked urchin, Katara. We haven't had that since Gran-Gran’s birthday two years ago!” Her brother seemed to lament. Katara sighed and turned around.

“My brother here is interested in your smoked urchin,” she said, pretending her brother wasn’t rubbing his hands together and already daydreaming of the delicacy. “Is it preserved or fresh?”

The old man looked pleased that they were interested. “Fresh. I’ll smoke them tonight, just for you.” 

“But we _will_ pay you for them, sir.” She insisted. She didn’t help someone for free food. “What is your price?” 

The old man gave her a dismissive wave. “Non-sense. You’ve helped me greatly.” It was just helping him lift his cart out of some mud. Katara raised a brow. “Just come by to the pier tomorrow.” He smiled, proud and hopeful. “I have a son about your age, you know.” 

Katara’s eyes doubled in size and Sokka sucked in a sharp breath. He looked from his sister to the old man and stepped in. “We’ll try to make it tomorrow, sir! Thank you for your time!” He grabbed Katara’s arm and pulled her away. “Let’s go, Katara....”

For a moment, she could only stumbled beside him, blinking. Did the old man just try to push his son on her? 

“What was that?” She was finally able to choke out a response as they were seated at the restaurant. “Why do old men keep trying to pawn off their sons or grandsons on me?” 

Sokka waved for a server. “An introduction isn’t trying to pawn their son off on you.”

She glared at her brother as he was offered a menu. “We’re not going to the pier tomorrow.”

“Yeah, I figured,” Sokka said. He lifted his hand and shook his head, rejecting the menu. “It’s fine. I don’t need a menu. Can I get two seaweed noodle deluxe?” The server nodded and Sokka looked back at her. “Katara, you want one, too or do you want to take a look at what else they have?” 

She drew her lips into a line. “I’ll get that one, too.” The server nodded and scurried off. Katara sighed and leaned forward, running her hand down her face. 

“Why didn’t you just show the old man your necklace. That usually stops them.” 

Katara groaned and looked up, tired. “The leather is worn and ripped. I need to get it fixed. Anyway, I don’t want to have to use the necklace as some sort of talisman to ward off old people trying to find a wife for their sons.” 

“You can always tell them what you do for a living. That might scare them off.” Katara gave him a dull look. “All right, all right. Listen, _I_ know you have agency, but those old folks tend to be determined when it comes to their unwed kids. There’s nothing we can do about that, so don’t think too much about it,” Sokka said, putting her bag on his seat as he rose. “You have more important things to do. You’re here for a top secret job, remember?”  
“I know, I know.”

“I’ll be back. I just need to wash my hands.” He lifted his palms and shook his head. Katara could now see that they were glistening with some greasy material. “I spilled oil on them earlier....”

She sat up straight. “Sokka!” She looked at her bag and noticed a grease stain on the strap. “Ugh....and you hugged me....”

She shot her brother’s fleeting figure a glare as she shrugged off her coat to see if he’d left some oil marks on it. Thankfully, due to the waterproof coating on her coat, there was none. Still, she frowned and twisted in her seat to hang her coat on the back of her wooden chair.

As she turned back, she caught someone looking at her and quickly lower their eyes as soon as they met. She drew her head back and squinted his way as she tried to pretend she didn’t notice him looking. 

It was that civilian at the dock; the one who was stopped by the soldiers. She recognized that tell-tale scar in an instant. From the corner of her eye, she could see him looming over a large white bowl with what looked like a red and gold dragon border. The yellow noodles were served dry and caked with pepper flakes. 

That must’ve been the garlic fire noodles Sokka was telling her about. She pursed her lips and knit her brows, just a bit. She turned her head away and tried to catch the eye of a passing server. 

“Hi, can I see your menu for just a bit?” she said with a hopeful smile. “It’s my first time here.”

“Of course, miss.” The server dashed to the counter and returned with a single piece of thick paper. The restaurant only had a few dishes - mostly noodles. 

“The garlic fire noodles,” Katara said, pointing to the simply drawn image of them by the description. “Is that a house specialty?”

“Yes, miss. It’s an old family recipe of the restaurant’s founders. The Chow family hails from the Fire Nation and brought that dish with them three generations ago. It’s very popular with our Fire Nation visitors.”

Katara fixed her eyes on the menu and nodded. “I see...I’ll have to keep that in mind for next time. Thank you.” She handed the server the menu and tried to take a subtle glance at the table where the young man with the scar was eating.

He was gone. 

She whirled around in her seat to try to catch sight of him and found him paying at the counter. 

Katara rose to her feet and carefully stepped around the numerous patrons, tables, and chairs to get to the counter. It wouldn’t hurt to get a closer look. She reached into her robes for a small money pouch just as the man turned around.

“Hey!” He stumbled back as soon as they made contact and she grimaced. 

She didn’t mean to run into him that hard, but she wanted to get to him before he left. The sound of her coins hitting the floor seemed to distract him and Katara moved back, clutching her money pouch to her chest. 

“Sorry about that!” 

He looked up and she was careful not to show her pleasure on her face. Up close, she could see that he had gold eyes. She caught them briefly before he looked down and thick, black hair fell over them. He knelt down in front of her and began to pick up her fallen coins.

“I didn’t know you were standing there.” She heard him say as he gathered the coins. “I hope I didn’t hurt you.”  
He looked up at her as he picked up the last broze piece. Upon closer inspection, those wanted posters didn’t do him justice. And it wasn’t just his scar. He seemed to hold her eyes as he rose to his feet. The movement of his hand caught her attention and she looked down. He was trying to hand the coins back to her.

A small, embarrassed heat reached her cheeks. He’d picked them up for her and she just stood there. “Thank you, you didn’t have to.”

“I was the one who ran into you.” He wasn’t, really, but she still accepted the coins back. 

“No, I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going.” She offered him an apologetic smile. “I was about to pay for my and my brother’s meal...let me pay for yours, since I ran into you.”

“It’s fine,” he said. He stepped around her. “I already paid. Are you sure you’re not hurt?” He seemed to look her up and down once to make sure.

“I’m sure. Thank you...and sorry, again, for running into you.” He gave her a curt nod and headed out of the restaurant. 

He seemed the right age and suspected the right height. Aside from the scar, he also had the features she was looking for: black hair, pale skin, and golden eyes. His body was nice and firm, suggesting physical work. It wouldn’t be strange for a boy who had nothing in a foreign place to take whatever job he could get to survive. 

“Miss, can I help you?” She turned around at the sound of the server behind the counter’s voice. 

Katara smiled and held out her coins. “Yes, I just wanted to pay ahead of time.” 

When she returned to her table, Sokka was already starting on the first of his two massive bowls of seaweed noodles. He slurped up the green pieces with gusto and she made a face. 

“Are you really going to finish all that?” The bowls were bigger than her head. 

Sokka grinned. “Please, you think this is the first time I’ve done this?”

Katara shook her head and took her seat. She reached for her chopsticks. “This is bigger than I thought it would be.”

“I think they could go bigger. Like a super deluxe size.” Katara rolled her eyes once more and began to separate her noodles to eat. “By the way, what was that over there?”

She singled out some noodles. “What was what?” 

“Running into that guy. I came out and you were about to ram into him.” Sokka glanced up from his steaming bowl. “I thought you weren’t interested in the whole marriage thing.” 

“I never said that,” Katara said. She slurped up a noodle. As she chewed, she gave a satisfied nod. It really was good. “I said I don’t want people trying to marry me off. Not that I’m not interested in marriage.”

“Hmm....” Sokka gave her a suspicious look. “Is that why you were chatting up the forge guy?” 

She looked up and slurped another noodle. “You know him?”

“He works the smithy I use for my metal parts,” her brother said. Katara swallowed a mouthful of noodles and leaned forward, narrowing her eyes with interest.

“What else do you know about him?” 

* * *

He couldn’t shake the feeling that he was being watched for the last few days. While he usually carried a lingering paranoia with him considering his circumstances, this time the feeling was stronger. As if he were being singled out and observed, more so than the usual second look a soldier would give him before he was stopped. 

Since the Fire Nation soldiers started appearing in the Republic searching for him, he’d grown wary, but it became so familiar, his heart stopped racing and his anxiety didn’t spike every single time. 

Recently, he’d start to feel his heart slam in his chest and he’d find himself looking around, trying to find out who was looking at him, only to feel like a lunatic in the middle of a street, eyeing passersby with aggressive accusation. It started one morning while at work and he’d brushed it off.

His work station was close to the street for the purpose of his detail oriented skill to be displayed with prospective customers. People would often stop and watch him work. Customers, like Mr. Won’s daughter, sometimes came by to greet him and see what he was creating next. Sometimes the students from the girl’s school several blocks away would come by in hopes of catching a glimpse at what the latest trend piece would be. 

But those prying eyes never were fixed on him for long. It was his work that got the attention. Whoever was watching him now seemed to focus only on him. 

By the end of the first day, the feeling seemed to die down. Perhaps it was his work that distracted him or his stalker had take a break. However, as soon as he finished and began his way home, he felt those eyes again. They followed him for longer periods of a time each day. 

First, just at the smithy.

Then, on his way home.

That morning, he could swear he felt them on him as soon as he stepped out of his one room home. 

Zuko looked around, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. The old lady who was his neighbor was always up drawing water from a communal well in the morning. Across from him, the worn mother of two little twin boys were trying to get them ready to go to school. Sun, the neighborhood drunk, was passed out on his doorstep. 

He went about his morning routine trying to ignore the feeling and reason with himself. It was all in his head. He was just tired of seeing all the Fire Nation soldiers combing the city and hearing those rumors that the Fire Lord was searching for him. It wouldn’t last longer than a few more months. 

The Fire Lord had to give up sometime. Besides, as long as Zuko was missing, he couldn’t be used as a figurehead to try to overthrow Fire Lord. The last thing Zuko wanted to do was have that thrown on him by his father’s self-exiled followers and he’d been hiding from them as long as he’d been hiding from the Fire Lord. 

He reached the smithy and greeted some of the other smiths who were already there. He stood in front of his unlit forge and took a deep breath. He stepped back and moved his arms forward in a fluid motion, sending a ball of fire into the forge to ignite it. As he did every morning, he built up his fire, using his bending to control its intensity. 

“Li, we have a new customer, can you see them?” He heard the owner call for him over the sound of the flames and the clanging of near-by smiths. 

Satisfied that his fire was burning well as he fed it some wood, he lifted his arm to wipe the sweat off his brow and turned around. “Sure, Mr. Fong....” The words died out of his mouth as he saw his new customer. 

“Hi.” She smiled as she stood on the other side of his work bench. She was wearing lighter clothes than when he had seen her last. The thick, blue and white trimmed coat she had been removing when she turned and caught him staring at the restaurant was replaced with a thinner, short sleeved tunic that matched her clear, blue eyes. She cocked her head a little, her thick brown hair falling over her shoulder as he saw the recognition on her face. “Aren’t you from the restaurant?”

His mind drew a blank and Zuko was unsure if he wanted to be remembered or not. He swallowed and tore his eyes away, looking back at the fire. “The noodle shop by the docks, right?”

“Yes, I remember you.” Her smile seemed to widen as Zuko collected himself. At the very least, she didn’t bring up having caught him staring. 

Not that he had meant to. When he reached the restaurant and was seated outside, he had a good view of the street. He wouldn’t have paid her any mind if it weren’t for her calling out to an old man and helping him unstick his fish cart from a muddy pothole. Living in a big city, the minor inconveniences of others were often overlooked and he was glad to see someone offered to help the old man. 

In addition, there weren’t many people from the Water Tribe in the Republic and even rarer were waterbenders. He’d unknowingly followed her with his eyes as she was pulled away by the man he’d find out was her brother and was seated a few tables away. He’d heard that female waterbenders were generally relegated to healing, but from her movements, she seemed to know more than that. 

“What can I help you with today?” He’d stick to business, he decided. There was no need to make anything more awkward by bringing up how he’d nearly let his noodles grow cold while staring at her. 

She reached into her pocket and pulled out a finely woven handkerchief. From the embroidery work, it wasn’t Water Tribe. It looked like Northern Earth Kingdom from what he could tell. She held it in her hand and pulled apart the corners to reveal a tattered, cobalt leather strip and a sky blue stone pendant that had come off. 

“My necklace has seen better days,” she said with a heavy sigh. “The leather is practically falling apart and the metal fastener is hanging off. I know that this isn’t really a shop for leather work, but the owner said you could look at it and see if you’d be able to fix it?” 

She offered him the necklace on the handkerchief and Zuko furrowed his brows as he took it from her. He placed it on his work bench and sat down, examining the piece. 

“Do you just want it reattached?” he asked as he flipped over the stone pendant. It was a solid weight and hand carved. This must’ve been one of those betrothal necklaces he’d heard about. He bit his lip as he ran a finger over the carving of waves. Water Tribe men carved those pendants out of blue arctic minerals for the women they were engaged to. He’d never held one before and could only imagine how long it took for someone to sit there and carve and polish piece after small piece just to make a proper pendant to present to his fiancee. “I’d have to replace the leather. This piece isn’t usable any more.” 

“I thought so,” she said, frowning. “If possible, I’d like a new leather strip with metal fasteners in the back, as well as replace the metal fastener on the pendant. The leather itself isn’t important, so it doesn’t have to be blue.”

He nodded and glanced up at her. Of course the leather wasn’t as important as the pendant itself. It was from her fiance.

“I can do that, but it’ll take a couple of days,” Zuko said. He pulled the pendant off the worn leather and took out some pliers to remove the metal fastener on it. “I can order some dyed blue leather from one of our vendors. The metal pieces won’t take too long, but the leather might.”

“Oh, that’s okay. Like I said, the leather doesn’t need to be blue.”

He raised a brow as he stood up. “Are you in a rush?”

“No-”

“Then it’ll be blue,” he said. He held out the pendant and she looked at it and then back at him, confused.

“Don’t you need this?” she asked.

“I can put it on the necklace when you come to pick it up,” he said. “The stone is important to you, isn’t it? You should keep it with you.” 

She seemed to stare at the pendant in his hand for a bit longer before her confusion faded into a small, thoughtful smile. Her cool, soft fingers swept against his calloused palm as she picked up the blue circle. 

“Thank you,” she said as she brought it against her chest. Her face softened as she looked up at him. “It is very important to me.” 

_Lucky man_ , he wanted to say. Instead, Zuko took a deep breath and looked away. “Uh...I’d say the leather and findings should be ready by the end of the week,” he said. “Is that all right?”

“That’s perfect. Do I pay now or when I pick up?”

“When you pick up,” he said. He removed the tattered leather from the handkerchief and handed it back to her. 

She took it from his hand and began to fold it up. She paused and glanced back at him. “Excuse me....” She leaned forward, reaching over his work bench and extending her arm. He froze in place as her hand lifted the delicate cloth to his temple. His eyes were wide and he could only look at her as she fixed her gaze on the spot she was wiping. As she lowered her arm, her eyes flickered over to his and she smiled. “Sorry...there was some soot there. It was bothering me.”

He swallowed hard. “Oh. Yeah...no problem.” His voice was tight and he felt warmer than usual. Women didn’t often get that close to him. Especially not pretty ones who helped old people and had big, blue eyes. 

She stepped back a bit. “My name is Katara, by the way.”

“Li.” 

“Li....” She repeated his name, smiling as she said it. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Li.” He nodded, stiff as she took another step back. “See you at the end of the week?”

“Yeah.” Not the best answer to give a customer, but she giggled and turned around, heading out to the street with a little wave. 

“Bye, Li.” 

He gave her a half-hearted wave in return before shaking himself out of his stupor. Zuko turned around to face the forge, allowing his face to heat up as he shoved some more wood into the fire. He could now feel his heart racing as he recalled the faint touch of her fingers against his hand and the soft material of her handkerchief against his head. 

At twenty-two, he really shouldn’t be so flustered. Women came on to him all the time. Even the others at the smithy were surprised that he was fairly popular. _He_ was surprised he was fairly popular. It always made him somewhat uncomfortable; what did a guy like him have anything to offer anyone? Hair accessories he could make by hand? 

Perhaps it was because the woman - _Katara_ , he corrected himself, was so close? Or that she caught his eye the other day at the docks? Was it some weird waterbender spell? No, that didn’t make sense. 

“Ugh...!” He let out a low growl and sent a fist full of fire into the forge. He had work to do and wouldn't waste time overthinking about a girl he just met. First, she was engaged. He _was_ fixing her betrothal necklace. Second, she would come pick it up at the end of the week and he’d never see her again. 

He let out a low breath to calm himself. He just needed to get back to work. After all, now that he noticed it, those prying eyes he was sure were following him were gone.

* * *

“He’s coming here?” Katara looked up from Sokka’s kitchen. Her brother was sitting at a low table further in the small house he was renting while staying in the Republic. The kitchen was near the front door and consisted of a small cooking area and a sink. There was a good amount of counter space in the galley-like kitchen and she’d managed to move most of Sokka’s ‘organized mess’ to one side and free up the other. 

Sokka didn’t look up from where he was working on some metal box with tubes. “Yeah, I just got a message.”

Katara nodded and returned to small glass vials of shirshu toxin she was diluting. “I’ll go buy some vegetables and tofu then. It’ll be good for him to have something to eat if he’s staying here.”

“We can always just go back to the noodle place.”

“We can’t eat there every day, Sokka.”

“Don’t judge my life.” 

She sighed. “What about if we do a hot pot when Aang arrives? It’s been a while since the three of us had all hung out.”

“And who’s fault is that, girl-who-fled-an-engagement.”

“Aang was very supportive,” Katara said in a firm voice. “He let me stay at the temples when I left.” She owed Aang a lot and considered him a good friend. The closest place she could run off to after fleeing the Southern Water Tribe was the Southern Air Temple, where Aang was spending some time training before returning to the Earth Kingdom to continue his earthbending studies. 

It was there where they caught a group of thieves trying to steal artifacts from the temple, not realizing that it was occupied by the last remaining airbender and his waterbender friend. That was probably where she got her first taste at tracking and capturing criminals. It gave her a sense of satisfaction to use her bending abilities to help others. 

As she traveled the Earth Kingdom, she began to pick up odd jobs. It started with stopping some bandits outside a small village. Then escalated to hunting down wanted local criminals. When her reputation for finding people grew, the kind of people she was sent to find also increased.

Missing family members, people who owed people money, as well as escaped prisoners. That was how she ran into her mentor. At first, June tried to brush off the then seventeen year old looking for the same ostrich horse thief she was, but once it was all over and Katara had managed to save Nyla, June’s shirshu’s, life, they became quick friends. 

Katara managed to learn a lot from June and even started taking some of June’s less taxing jobs, specifically ones for missing persons. There was something more fulfilling about finding someone’s lost grandmother over carting a half frozen suspected murderer into town. 

“When is Aang supposed to get here?”

“This afternoon?” 

Katara whirled around and gave her brother a frustrated look. “You mean you don’t know? Does he even know where you live?”

“I’m sure he’ll ask around,” Sokka said, calm. “I am rather famous around here.” 

Katara sighed and began screwing on the tops of the vials. “I’m going to go buy some vegetables.”

“And some meat!”

“Fine. We’ll do a hot pot, then,” she said. 

“Do you have time for that?” Sokka asked. “What about that job from the Fire Nation?”

“Don’t worry about my job,” she said. A small grin reached her lips as she thought back to that morning and the dark-haired smith in a leather apron with soot on his face. She’d spent a few days tailing him and trying to confirm her suspicions, but her favorite part was when he was working. He seemed completely unaware and had no qualms using his _firebending_. “I’ve already gotten started and have a pretty good lead.” She gathered her things and began to clean up. “All right, vegetables, meat, tofu...at least get the pot and bowls ready by the time I get back.”

“I’ll try!” 

She shook her head. “Hopefully, I’ll catch sight of Aang and bring him over. If not....”

“Make a fountain or something,” Sokka said, still distracted. “It’ll flag him down.” 

She bent a little water and froze it into a cube before hurling it at the back of her brother’s head. He let out a yelp as she grabbed her bag and headed out the door. 

* * *

“Li, you have another customer!” Mr. Fong was really bombarding him today, but the more projects he got, the more money he made. 

Zuko pulled himself away from the forge, bringing out with him a twisted metal pipe he was shaping. He placed the pile on his anvil and headed to his work bench. Mr. Fong was talking to a teenage looking young man, tall with a shaved head and a blue arrow on it. Zuko furrowed his brows together, was that a tattoo? 

“Oh, Avatar, this is him.” Mr. Fong was looking earnestly at the young man and Zuko drew his head back. Did he say Avatar?

“Thank you, Mr. Fong. I really appreciate this.” The young man in orange robes smiled and gave the owner a small bow of his head in thanks. 

“Li.” Mr. Fong leaned over the workbench and gave Zuko a pointed look. “This is the Avatar. Make us proud.” 

Zuko nodded quietly and looked back at the pleasant looking monk. He’d heard the Avatar who disappeared nearly a hundred years ago was recently found and was going through the other three nations to learn bending, as he was just a child when he was found somewhere in the south. Zuko almost couldn’t believe he was standing in front of him, but the tattoos, the shaved head, the orange robes....? It couldn’t be. 

His disbelief must’ve been on his face as the monk chuckled and moved his hands in a circle in front of him. A cool gust of air blew around Zuko as the man bowed. 

“It’s great to meet you, Hotman!” 

He brought his hand to his first and bowed. “Avatar, it is an honor.” What was a Hotman? “How can I help you?”  
The Avatar reached behind him and pulled out a slender, wooden staff. He tapped it against the ground and large cloth connected to thin wooden frames fanned out, except for one side. 

“It’s my glider,” he said. He moved closer to show Zuko a mechanism on the base of this staff. “This thing here is rusted over and cracked. Corroded, I think, is what it’s called. It’s not holding the joint properly and so the right wing doesn’t come out.”

Zuko leaned forward, about to reach for it when he remembered who he was talking to and stopped. He looked at the Avatar hesitantly. “Can I take a closer look?”

“Of course!” The monk lifted it off the ground and placed it on the table. Zuko moved his hands down to the metal joint at the bottom. The staff or glider or whatever it was felt lighter than he thought. “I asked around and they said this smithy had some of the best smiths. Mr. Fong told me that you’d be able to replicate any detailed work.”

Zuko inwardly groaned. He needed to teach others at the smithy to do detailed work at some point. Still, to be recommended to the Avatar himself said something about all the hard work he’d put in after so many years. 

“I think I can replicate it. Are you familiar with taking this apart and putting it back together?” 

“Yes, I can do that. I’d be happy to come by when the part is ready to work together on reassembling the glider,” he said.

Zuko nodded. “If you can leave this part with me, I can probably get to work on it and have it done in a few days. Is that too long?”

The Avatar shook his head. “Not long at all. I’m staying with a friend near-by. I think he uses this smithy, too.”

Zuko began to take out his tools to prepare to take apart the glider and get the corroded piece of metal off. “Really?” he asked. It wasn’t so much out of curiosity, but customer small talk. “What does he usually have done?”  
“He’s an inventor,” the Avatar said. “He’s been working on some ‘boat pumps’, as he calls them. I’ll be staying with him and his sister while I’m here.”

“That’s nice.” Zuko pulled his stool forward to take a seat. “Is his sister an inventor, too?”

“Nope!” The Avatar smiled and shook his head. "She’s visiting, too. She’s probably here on a job.” 

Distracted, Zuko kept talking. “What does she do?” 

He wasn’t prepared for the Avatar’s answer. 

“She’s a bounty hunter.” 


	2. Two

“And she won’t even tell me what her job is!” Sokka brought his chopsticks to his mouth and slurped up a wad of noodles loudly. “An tah ink, I lee hur stah wid meh.”

Aang raised a brow and Katara rolled her eyes. She gave her brother a deadpan look from across the table. “Sokka, chew and swallow first before talking.” 

He narrowed his eyes and made a show of chewing all the noodles in his mouth before tilting his head back to swallow. “As I was saying. I let you stay here while you’re on your job and you won’t even tell me what it is. Kind of rude, don’t you think?”  
“I was asked by the client to keep it confidential,” Katara said, reaching into the steaming pot in the center of the table. A divider kept one side vegetarian-friendly while the other was filled with what was mostly Sokka’s meat pieces. Katara pulled some noodles out into her bowl. “Besides, it’s possible my target might get suspicious, so the less people who know the better.”

Sokka made a face. “That’s a pretty weak reason. Let me take a guess? Someone made off with a lot of money and you need to hunt them down?”

“No, but nice try.”

“Oh!” Aang sat up straight in his seat. “Illegal exotic animal trader!”

“I’d take on a job like that, but no, not this time.”

“I got it!” Sokka nearly slapped his chopsticks on the table as he leaned forward. “Missing heiress of a powerful family who ran off with the man she loved - a poor peasant boy with a heart of gold, but who her family didn’t approve of. So before they could marry her off to some tycoon, she ran off with her lover to start a new life in a new country, however her family isn’t letting up and sent you to bring her back in order to marry her off and save their wealth.” He stared his sister dead in the eyes and Katara squinted. 

“That’s...elaborate....” He might’ve been close starting off, but with his extended background story, he was kind of just reaching. 

Sokka nodded, satisfied that he was on to something. “Don’t worry, Katara. You’re good at your job; they wouldn’t get away.”

Beside him, Aang gasped. He perked up and leaned across the table. “It’s not anything dangerous, is it, Katara? Will they fight you if you try to bring her back? I know you can handle yourself, but-”

“It’s not, I swear. It’s not a missing heiress with a forbidden love.” Katara chuckled and gave him a small, dismissive wave. “It’s just one person and they’re not dangerous.” At least, he didn’t give off that feeling. The man she had her eye on  _ had the ability _ to be dangerous, but he that wasn’t his normal state, she was sure. It was what her gut told her and in her line of business, it was important to trust her gut.

Aang pursed his lips. “Well...you do have a really good record.”

“Don’t worry. June drilled it into my head not to take on a job that’s even the slightest over my head,” Katara said. “If I get injured, I can’t do my job right, so I’m careful.”

Sokka snorted. “I don’t know...you tend to push your luck.”

Aang nodded, agreeing. “But at least it’s just one person.” 

“Did you already start tracking them? When are you going to go in for the kill?”

“Do you need to phrase it like that, Sokka?” Aang sighed.

“Sorry, I meant, when are you going to complete your mission.” 

Katara sighed. “In a few days. I’m waiting for something first. Once that’s settled, I’ll isolate and capture him. I’ve already got the transport back to the client ready.”

“Mighty confident there,” Sokka said, putting in a few more slices of chicken beef into the hot pot. “I know you’re going to catch the guy, but in just a few days? You’re sure?”

Katara nodded. “I’m sure. I’m going after a bender, so proper arrangements needed to be made for a safe transport back in case things don’t go exactly according to plan. I’m hoping it will go smoothly.” 

Aang let out a tired huff. “Sounds like being a bounty hunter is tough.”

The siblings laughed and Sokka grinned. “This coming from the Avatar.” Sokka reached over and placed his palm on Aang’s bald head, giving it a warm shake. “What about you? Where are you off to next?”

“Fire Nation. I missed the big conferences with the Fire Lord a few months ago, so I have to drop by.”

“That sounds like a bureaucratic nightmare,” Sokka said, scooping some food into his bowl. 

Aang shrugged, but smiled. “Yeah, but it’s not like I don’t like doing it. The Fire Lord has been really helpful. He even offered to send a cruiser to bring me to the Caldera, but I told him Appa was fine.”

“Appa is faster, anyway,” Katara said. She leaned back on her chair. “Maybe I should get an animal to ride.” 

“What about a shirshu, like June had?” Aang asked. “They’re fast and have a great sense of smell. That’s definitely going to be useful.”

“Hmmm...” She frowned. “They’re not really covert though. And it’s not like I deal with hardened criminals like June, so I don’t need the extra strength and the toxin in its saliva is only for a worst case scenario use for me. If I do my job right, it doesn’t get ugly and I don’t need to show too much strength. ”

Sokka let out a snort. “If you ask me, you’re plenty strong already. You once turned an entire Fire Nation battleship on its side.”

Aang nodded. “It was an empire class!” 

“That was  _ one _ time,” Katara said, her eyes darting away. “And it was for a demonstration!”

“And in the middle of the day.” Sokka said in a droll voice. “I can’t believe they thought it was the ‘tide’.” 

“But it did make the machinery you worked on pretty well known,” Aang said, slurping up his own noodles. “They were so shocked at how your ship was able stay afloat and adjust.”

“True, true...part of my success is because of my dear little sister.” Sokka puffed out this chest. “But, that doesn’t mean she’s invulnerable. All I’m saying is that she should be careful, regardless of how good you are.”

“I will,” Katara said. “Anyway, once I capture my target, I’m going to go straight to the waiting transport vessel. I’ll send for my things and head out immediately. Before that, Aang, I was wondering if I could borrow Appa for a day. I have to check on something.” 

“Yeah, sure.” 

Sokka gave her a pointed nod. “You going to tell us who you’re after when it’s over?”

Katara let out a defeated sigh. “Fine. I’ll let you know when it’s over.” 

Sokka beamed. “Must be some high profile guy if it’s that top secret.” 

Katara bit her lips, the image of a sweaty man in soot stained and singed work clothes flashing through her mind. “Well...I wouldn’t say he’s high profile.” She scooped up some more meat for her bowl before Sokka could take it. She grinned. “But I have to say...he is high quality. It’s almost a shame.” 

* * *

When he first arrived in what was now the Republic, there were no shortages of people, on both sides, who bore their share of injuries from the war. 

As much as he didn’t want it, one look at his face made people pity him. As a displaced, young prince with no experience living outside a palace, gaining pity was probably his only skill and he needed to swallow whatever pride he had left to survive. 

Even as he grew familiar with what was now his normal everyday world, life would still throw surprises at him. People whispered, soldiers stopped and questioned him, and rumors spread about the search for a missing prince. He did whatever he could to deny his identity and feign innocence whenever he was confronted. 

That soon became his normal. 

Zuko opened his eyes and felt hot and sticky. He lifted an arm to his forehead and felt the sweat collecting at his forehead and temples. A shaky breath left him as he wiped the sweat off and used his arms to push him up, into a seated position. He glanced at the partially open window across his one room hovel. 

The sun was just starting to raise and he closed his eyes and fell back against his worn bed. Unnecessary thoughts plagued his mind recently with the increased rumors that Iroh was searching for him and was starting to send more than the usual soldiers. The number of soldiers seemed to remain the same, he noticed, but even his co-workers who worked in an industrial part of the city and never minded such whispers before were starting to talk about supposed bounty hunters that Iroh was sending out. That was starting to be cause for alarm and shaking him out of his ‘normal’.

Since the Avatar himself mentioned a bounty hunter he knew was present, he found himself more uneasy than usual. The Avatar mentioned it so casually and Zuko couldn’t help but wonder if perhaps he knew about Iroh’s search and found nothing wrong with it.

Certainly, the monk wouldn’t advocate for his capture if he knew that Zuko would be harmed or imprisoned. Perhaps it would be a good idea to be on good terms with the Avatar. He was supposed to be an impartial and just bender and guide. If Zuko was hunted and dragged back to the Fire Nation, perhaps he could get help from the Avatar.

Then again, maybe he was overthinking it all. Aside from the rumors, there haven’t been any actual contact with said bounty hunters. It had been many years and Zuko was just a child at the time; sending a bounty hunter in order to imprison him was extreme. Still...what other reason would Iroh have to try to find him. 

He let out a heavy breath and pushed the concerns out of his mind. He still had a job to do and needed to get up. He went through his morning routine. Unlike several days earlier, he hadn’t felt the prying eyes watching his every move. No one followed him as he walked to the market to pick up some fruit for breakfast. He didn’t sense anyone watching as he wove through the narrow streets to get to the smithy.

A small, hopeful thought appeared in his mind: perhaps he wasn’t being targeted by whatever rumored bounty hunters his uncle was sending. Maybe it was all a rumor after all.

Zuko reached his work station and began getting ready for the day. He started with igniting his forge before putting on his work apron and laying out his tools. As he opened a drawer, he saw the lacquered wooden box sitting on top of his work gloves. 

His movements slowed as he lifted it up the box and opened the lid. A clean, new strip of blue dyed leather was laid across the soft interior. New metal clasps and finds were securely fastened, just waiting for the last piece to be placed on it. 

Zuko’s calloused finger traced one side of the leather, to the fine metal clasps. He didn’t make it exactly like the old one, though he did debate on whether or not he should just duplicate it. It didn’t seem like Katara demanded a complete replicate with how she didn’t care what leather was used. 

The thought eased his mind a little when he added his own touch to the necklace. At the end of the back clasp was a small silver chain ending with a tiny blue crystal bead shaped like a raindrop. He’d had to use a magnifying glass to properly set it, but it would hang down from the clasp half the length of his pinky. It was a modern touch to a classic piece; something he’d been praised for with commissioned work.

It wasn’t his original intention, though. He wanted to make a quality piece that would be durable for everyday wear, yet still capture the simple elegance of a Water Tribe betrothal necklace. He prided himself on the positive reactions of his clients, after all. 

Then, while with Master Fong at one of their gemstone suppliers’ warehouses looking for stones for someone’s wife’s head wear, he’d seen the small tray of blue raindrop shaped crystals. He kept looking back at them, unsure what attracted him, as they weren’t anything special. They weren’t big; their shape and cut weren’t fancy, but they caught his eye.

“Li, did you want to see one? Maybe you can use it for your next best seller.” Mr. Shuang, the jeweler, was already lifting the tray from the display to show him. “They are rare, you know.”

Master Fong took a break from his search to see what he was looking at. “What’s that? Sapphire?” 

“Hauyne,” Mr. Shuang said. Zuko leaned over to take a closer look. The pieces were small, but good quality. “They’re rare and can be found in ancient volcanic sites in the Fire Nation.” 

“The Fire Nation?” Zuko had lifted his head. He didn’t know of any blue stones from the Fire Nation. If it was native, there must’ve been some piece of jewelry that had them inlaid, but he didn’t recall ever seeing his mother or anyone, really, wearing blue stones. 

“Just because it isn’t red or black doesn’t mean it’s not from there. They’re not very plentiful and let’s face it, kind of clashing with the Fire Nation’s signature colors,” Mr. Shuang said, smirking, as if trying not to laugh. “Hauyne is a transparent blue.” He took some tweezers and pinched one from the tray. He lifted it up to face height. “They’re as clear as water.” 

Zuko bought one. The tiny little rock cost him one silver and an afternoon of jostling from Master Fong and the other smiths, asking who the hauyne was for. 

“Someone put in an order.” Zuko insisted and, somehow, everyone bought it. Master Fong could’ve easily checked the orders and pointed out otherwise, but he just stood there with a smile on his face. 

Zuko only dared attach it to Katara’s necklace when everyone was at lunch. He only hoped that she’d like it despite the slight design change. It still resembled the old necklace, but that tiny detail was something he felt fit her. However, each time he looked at the necklace, he did feel a small lingering sense of guilt. The necklace was supposed to be from her betrothed...it was a bit sneaky of him to attach a crystal of his own choosing on it. 

He snapped the lacquer box closed and placed it to the side. “It’s a stylistic choice. Customers love that extra detail.” He was convincing himself more than anyone else. If she didn’t like it, he could always remove it, he reasoned. A small part of him hoped he wouldn’t have to. He continued to pull out his gloves before reaching the small stack of orders he needed to organize.

“Li, we have a request from the neighborhood association to get some lanterns for the festival in two months, do you think you can take on the job?” Master Fong was looking over a small stack of papers as he walked over. 

Zuko glanced up. He moved his arms one last time to make sure the fire was consistent before rounding his workstation. “What are the specifications?” 

“They look fairly simple. I think Keito can help you with the base and hooks. Take a look?” He handed Zuko the sketches.

Zuko leaned back against his workstation and flipped through the designs, silently taking into account the sizes and how much metal would be needed, as well as how long it would take. He shuffled through the papers and frowned. 

“Twenty five big ones and fifty smaller ones? That’s going to take at least a month and a half, even with two of us working on it,” he said. “And I still have some orders I need to finish before then.”

“If you take on the job, I’ll have any new orders for you postponed until after the festival.” 

Zuko took a deep breath. His individual orders tended to be commissioned pieces and he made more money off of them than large, less complex orders. “Let me discuss with Keito and Rai to see what we can do before we accept.”

Master Fong nodded. “Thank you, Li. Mr. Sheng asked for you specifically, so I hope you can take this job.” 

He patted Zuko’s shoulder before heading back to his office. Zuko remained where he was, half seated, half leaning on the back of his workstation as he looked over the design papers. He didn’t feel the steady gaze on him.

“...are you busy?” His head snapped up as he heard a voice cutting through the calculations in his head. “Li?” His eyes widened as he gasped, shooting up straight as the papers scattered from his hands. 

“Katara!” Not three paces from him, the pretty young Water Tribe woman who was scheduled to appear that day had arrived. She smiled and chuckled.

“You remembered. Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.” 

She bent down at once, picking up the fallen papers off the ground. Zuko swallowed as he looked away. “You’re...uh...early.” 

She glanced up and offered him a smile. “Should I have come later? Did I surprise you? You looked so focused; I called your name three times.”

Zuko inwardly cringed. He shook his head as she stood up and handed him a few sheets of paper. He stared down at them and suppressed his humiliated groan. To have a customer pick up his things.... 

“You didn’t have to pick these up,” he said as he gathered them from her hands. 

“I surprised you,” she said with a small chuckle. “It’s the least I can do.” 

He sighed and turned around, placing the papers on his workstation. “Still, for a customer....” He trailed off and turned back to her, suddenly remembering what she was there for. “Your necklace!”

Katara brought her hands together and nodded, looking eager. “Is it ready? I brought the stone to attach. I thought you’d need time to do it, so I came when you guys opened.” She reached into her pocket and took out the same soft handkerchief she’d had when she first came to the forge. She held her palm up as she gently unfolded the cloth to reveal the smooth, blue stone. 

Zuko stared at it, silently comparing it to the crystal he picked out. He took a deep breath and tore his eyes away. There was nothing to compare. The stones didn’t even have the same purpose. He rounded his work station, avoiding her eyes. The pendant was for an engagement; it meant a lifetime together, didn’t it? His little accessory was just an accent piece. He just thought it would look nice and, if he were honest, please her. 

“It is. I just finished the detail work yesterday. All we need to do is add the last piece.”

“Wonderful!” Katara moved closer as Zuko reached the other side. 

“May I have the stone? I’ll reattach it.” Katara nodded as Zuko sat down at his station. He cleared some space on the surface and laid out a piece of leather. He opened the lacquer box and heard Katara gasp. “Is that it? It’s beautiful.”

He glanced up, noticing her almost leaning over his work station to try to get a better look. A smile tugged at his lips. Her eyes were crinkled up and almost sparkling and she didn’t seem to notice she was smiling. 

He lifted the necklace from the box and laid it out in front of her so she could get a better look. “The leather has been made waterproof and dyed with crushed water beetle shell; that’ll keep the color, so you won’t have to worry about it fading or bleeding on to your skin. The metal clasps here have an adjustable portion. They’re heat treated and strong, but still light. You’ll hardly notice them.”

Katara narrowed her eyes and knelt to get a closer look. “This chain piece...and this stone. Is it new?”

He held his breath. Of course she’d notice the one big change. “I do a lot of jewelry and ornament work,” he said, measuring his words. “I added the chain and the drop.” He pursed his lips and lowered his eyes. “Is it too much? If it’s not to your taste, I can still remove it-” 

“No, it’s beautiful, I love it.” His head snapped up. Did he hallucinate those words? Katara was still looking at the necklace and smiling, as if she couldn’t contain her delight. “It’s a...beautiful detail.” 

“You noticed?” He couldn’t help but sound stunned.

Katara nodded. “Of course. The necklace is a very old style, so the chain and drop stand out. I really like it.” She raised her head and met his eyes. He swallowed. Blue and clear, like water. “It’s an Earth Kingdom style, isn’t it? The drop chain in the back...and the stone is beautiful. What is it?” 

“Hauyne. From the Fire Nation. It’s a volcanic crystal.”

Her eyes shot back down to the stone, then rose to meet his. “The Fire Nation...?” He saw her brown cheeks redden just a bit as she looked back at the necklace once more. “Li...that means it’s imported. How much-”

“I’m the one who added it. I do it often for clients.” Zuko plucked the necklace from in front of her and placed it on his leather mat. “It’s no extra charge.”

“I must insist,” Katara said. “Here is the pendant. I’ll settle the bill with Mr. Fong and make sure to include the crystal.” 

“Wait!” She put the handkerchief on his workstation and turned around, making a beeline for Master Fong’s office before he could stop her. Zuko let out a low, resigned breath, and turned back to the necklace. Reattaching the carved pendant to the necklace was a quick task. He checked to make sure it was secure and raised it up to give it a tug and check its placement on the cobalt necklace. 

Past it, he could see Master Fong speaking to Katara near his office. He couldn’t hear what they were saying, but he did see Katara’s surprised expression and Master Fong grin and rub his chin before looking his way. Zuko’s eyes fell back to his work station. His boss figured out who he bought the hauyne crystal for. Great, the entire workshop would know before lunch.

He tried to pretend he didn’t notice and took to polishing the pendant. 

“That was fast.” He heard her voice, but kept this head down. “I really came to the right place to get it fixed. Although, looking at it now, it’s better than just fixed.”

Zuko glanced up. She was standing in front of his workstation, watching him intently. As soon as he could, he placed the necklace on her handkerchief and lifted it up. 

“Please check it.... If anything needs to be altered, I have time. We guarantee customer satisfaction.” He added the last part.

Katara slipped her hands against his and picked up the handkerchief. She separated the necklace from it and inspected the jewelry. “It feels so much more secure...I can definitely wear it without worry now. How long have you been doing this kind of work?”

Zuko tried to distractly put away the small tools he used. “I’ve been working here for four years, but I just started doing jewelry and accessory work two years ago.”

“You’ve come a long way in just four years.”

“I started learning smithing before I was hired here.” 

“How much longer was that?” 

“I had four years of apprenticeship to get the basics down.”

“Does it come naturally with being a firebender?” This time he stopped. He looked up at her and he supposed his expression did the asking for him. Katara glanced towards his forge and motioned towards it with a nod of her head. “I saw you ignite it.” 

There were plenty of firebenders in the city, but it wasn’t something he advertised. “It’s faster than having to manually start a fire.” 

She nodded, her fingers moving along her necklace. “Are you from the Fire Nation?” 

“No, I’m from a former colony.” He felt some relief falling back on his cover story. “A settlement a day’s travel north.” It wasn’t a lie, he reminded himself. That was where he first learned smithing. 

He saw Katara jerk her head back, looking almost surprised. “Oh...your accent....”

He tensed and looked up. “My what?” 

She let out a low breath and gave him an apologetic smile. “Your accent isn’t what I’m used to hearing here. If I were to guess, I’d say Caldera.”

He could feel the hairs on the back of his neck rising as he looked back at his workstation and began to slowly roll up the leather work mat. “You know how people in the Caldera talk?”

“I’m pretty well traveled.” 

He took a deep breath. The city was a hub for travelers. He shouldn't be surprised. He pushed himself up and met her eyes once more. He held out his hand, keeping a neutral look on his face. “Do you have your receipt? I need to log it as a commission piece.” She reached into her bag and took out a small piece of paper. He took it as soon as it was offered. “Thank you for your business.” He opened his drawer to put the receipt in and saw her hold the necklace out. He stared at the carefully crafted item. “Is there a problem?” 

“The clasp is new and I can’t quite grasp it,” she said. “Can you put it on me?” 

All thoughts of her identifying his lingering Caldera accent vanished. Was she asking what he thought she was? He shifted where he stood, uncertain, and reached for the necklace. Before he could touch it, he paused and looked at her. “Is that all right?” 

“Yes, I used to just tie it, so I’m not used to the clasp. I’d like to put it on before I leave.” 

Zuko blinked and shook his head a bit. “No, I mean...is it...acceptable to do so?” She looked confused and he wished he didn’t have to explain. He could feel his face heating up. “What I mean is...shouldn’t your finance or husband be the one to put this on you?” 

He watched her confused face go blank before her eyes widened and her face turn russet. She nearly dropped the necklace as she jumped back, startled. “My what!?” Her gasp caught the attention of several smithys nearby and Zuko tried not to cringe. Katara took a step forward and leaned over his station, her eyes narrowed and sharp. “When did I say I was engaged? Let alone married!”

He could feel the eyes of his co-workers looking at him, wondering what he’d said to upset the woman. He willed himself to keep his focus and not turn to look at them and assure them that everything was fine.

He had to choose his words carefully and keep his voice calm. “This...is a...betrothal necklace, isn’t it?” 

She stared at him and her mouth opened. No words came out, but he could see her make the connection. She closed her eyes and tilted her head back. “So that’s why....” She shook her head as she looked back at him. “It’s not. At least not any more.”

Zuko furrowed his brows. “Didn’t you say it was very important to you?” That’s why he’d taken such care putting it together. 

She chewed on her lip. “It is. It’s very important.” She looked down at her hand that had clenched the necklace and opened it. “It was my late mother’s. She received it as a gift from my grandmother; my father’s mom. Gran-Gran received it as a betrothal necklace before she left the Northern Water Tribe. That’s why it was so old and falling apart. In the South, that’s not really our custom anymore, but the necklace is still very meaningful to me because my mother gave it to me before she....” 

She drew her lips inward and Zuko lowered his eyes. He lifted the necklace from her hand and weighed it in his. It felt heavier than before. Without a word, he rounded his workstation. He stood beside her and met her gaze.

“Turn around?” 

She stared at him for a moment before a warm smile filled her face, displacing the faint melancholy he saw when she trailed off about her mother. She raised her arms, gathering her braided hair up and holding it in a small clump at the top of her head as she turned around. 

Zuko could smell the scent of her hair as his arms threaded around her slender neck. As the heavy stone pendant rested against her warm skin, he could feel the eyes of his fellow smiths watching him. He tried not to cringe or rush his movements and make a fool of himself. His calloused, trembling fingers expertly latched the necklace as the small chain and crystal drop fell against the back of her neck. 

“Is it secure? It does feel lighter, even with the chain and drop.” Her hands released her hair and Zuko snatched his arms back so as not to touch it. Katara touched her necklace, inspecting it as she turned around. “The metal you used is so much lighter than the old - oh!” 

“Watch it!” He didn’t have time to move back and her arm brushed his chest as she turned. In an attempt to avoid her, he stepped back, only to run into the corner of his workstation hard. “Gah!” He stumbled back, hooking his foot against his other, and crashed to the floor.

“Li!” He heard footsteps as one of the smiths nearest to his workstation rushed over. Zuko laid on the floor, an arm over his eyes, and a throbbing pain on his hip where he hit the workstation. He grit his teeth as his face heated up, embarrassed. 

Not only did he cry out and fall in front of his workmates, but in front of a customer. In front of _ Katara _ . What was he doing?

“Is that water?” He heard her ask above him. “I’m going to borrow a bit.” He lifted his arm over his eye and saw her kneeling at his side, moving her arms in smooth motions. Water came from where another smith was standing and wrapped around her hands. “Hold still.” 

Her hands moved to his hip, right where he was injured, and he felt his clothes grow wet as she moved her hands over him. The water was warm and it tingled against his skin as her hands glowed. 

“Wow, you’re a healer?” someone asked, surprised. “I’ve never seen one before!” 

A crowd began to gather around him and Zuko tried not to show his displeasure. “Guys...it’s fine.”

“It’s just a bruise,” Katara said, her eyes on where she was healing. “It’s almost gone.”

The painful throbbing was gone. Zuko watched her bend the water back before she was approached by some of the impressed smiths. Katara sat on her knees and smiled, sheepish as she tried to answer their questions.

“Okay, okay, break it up.” Zuko silently thanked Master Fong for appearing. “We still have work to do and our customer didn’t come here to be bombarded with questions.” 

There were a few groans of disappointment, but the group still dispersed and returned to their own forges. Master Fong offered a hand to help Katara up and Zuko took it as his queue to stand. Once on his feet he twisted his waist; he didn’t feel the throbbing at all and made a small, impressed face.

“You’re a healer....” He looked up and bowed his head. “Thank you. I wasn’t paying attention and troubled you.”

Katara shook her head. “No, I ran into you...again,” she said, with a small grin. “And you ran into the table pretty hard.” 

Master Fong let back a snort. “Thank you for aiding my employee Miss Katara. How is your necklace? Is it to your satisfaction?”

“Oh yes, it’s perfect.” She seemed to turn her attention to Master Fong and Zuko tried to sneak back behind his workstation. “I haven’t been able to wear it for months after the old leather gave way....” 

He took a deep breath and tried to focus his attention on his forge. Their transaction was done, he thought to himself. He fixed her necklace. He bent the flames in the forge higher. She was satisfied and paid. He reached for metal tongs to work the wood inside. End of transaction. 

“Li.” He looked over his shoulder and saw her still standing, as if waiting for him to pay attention. He furrowed his brows, curious. Was she not as satisfied as he thought?

“Yes?” 

“Would you like to have dinner with me tonight?” 

* * *

Empire Class Cruiser  _ Shao Ran III _ was a formidable former battle cruise turned private carrier vessel. It had a full naval crew and soldier escorts, as well as staff for its non-military, but still high profile guests. Typically, it was the ship used to bring diplomats to different regions and was built with comfort and security in mind. At the moment, it catered to her.

Katara looked over the metal fortified room. It was insulated with several narrow slotted vents on all sides, the floor, and the ceiling for the purpose of sending in chilled air. Treated metal that could withstand higher than normal temperatures made up the bolted chains and cuffs in the center of the room. 

There was no other furniture save a bucket in the corner. 

“Get a metal bed in here. Or a bench big enough to sleep on. Bolt it against the far wall,” Katara said with distaste. The officers who knew of her mission were few and when they gave the order to prepare a room to house a powerful firebender for transport to the Fire Nation to their subordinates, a glorified refrigerated room was their answer. “Make sure the chains are longer so that he can reach the bed and rest. I won’t have him hanging by his arms the entire way back.”

“Yes, my lady.” One of the soldiers escorting her rushed back up the hall outside the door to make arrangements. 

Katara frowned. She was hired to bring Zuko back to his uncle; not to drag and torture a prisoner. Even on the  _ Shao Ran III _ , famed for its speed, it would take at least a week to reach the Fire Nation. She bit her lip and clenched her hands at her sides. What were the officers thinking preparing such a room? It could hardly be called a room; it was a prison cell. 

“Where is Captain Jee.” Her voice was low as she turned around and walked out of the metal room, followed by one of the officers. 

“He should be having tea on the bow, my lady.”

“Take me to him.” The officer rushed in front of her to lead her up the narrow corridor below deck. They climbed a metal staircase, or rather a ladder with larger than average steps, to get to the deck. 

She found the ship’s captain, a graying firebender once under Fire Lord Iroh’s direct command, seated on a cushion, tuning a pipa as his tea seeped on a small low table in front of him. He looked up as he heard their footsteps. 

“Lady Katara, welcome. Would you like to join me for tea?”

“I have an engagement at sundown, so I’ll pass this time, Captain,” she said, though still took the cushion offered across from the man. “I would like to have a moment of your time.”

He paused and put the instrument away, giving her a bow of his head. “By command of the Fire Lord, I am at your disposal.”

“Then a word alone.” He lifted his hand and gave a nod to several officers on deck with him. They hit their chests with their fists before filing away. Katara watched in silence as they walked out of hearing range. “Do you know why I’m here, Captain?” 

Captain Jee seemed to hesitate. He took a deep breath and exhaled. “I do, my lady.” 

“Then why was such a room prepared for my target?” 

“It is a week’s journey back to the Fire Nation. We wanted to take as many precautions-”

“It’s a cold cell.” Her voice was icy as she fixed her glare on him. “Is that how you would treat the Fire Lord’s nephew?” 

Captain Jee took another deep breath. “My lady, we do not know the circumstances of His Highness. We must be prepared in case he resists.”

“Did I not assure you that I would make sure he would not?” Katara said. She narrowed her eyes further. “Or do you doubt my abilities, Captain?”

The graying man swallowed hard. “The Fire Lord himself has entrusted you with the task to find and retrieve His Highness. We are aware of your reputation....” His voice trailed off as he glanced down at the table and saw that his tea had frozen over. “As well as your abilities....”

“I understand your concerns, Captain, but I will not have the Fire Lord’s nephew treated as a hardened criminal when he has done nothing wrong.”

“But, my lady, he has been in hiding for ten years. What if he tries to escape?”

“And where would he escape to when we’re in the middle of the ocean and with the Avatar’s waterbending master?” Her voice rose and she could see some officers further away look back at her. She took a deep breath of her own to calm herself. “My priority is to have him come peacefully and willingly. To the Fire Lord, his safety is paramount.”

“But what if he resists?” Captain Jee said. He seemed distressed over this. “I have no doubt you can capture him, my lady. Your reputation precedes you in that matter. However, I will not take a chance in case His Highness reacts badly.” 

“Then at the very least make the chains long enough so he can move around that room. I will take responsibility for him until we arrive at the Fire Lord’s court.”

“My lady, that is dangerous. He is still a firebender. What if he-” 

“If reason doesn’t work, then I have shirshu toxin if we must keep him still,” Katara said as she rose to her feet. “And if that doesn’t work, I’ll secure him  _ myself _ . My reputation as a bounty hunter is not for show, Captain.” She brushed off her pant legs as she stood up. “Make sure all preparations to set off for the Fire Nation are done. I’ll retrieve the Fire Lord’s nephew tonight and we will leave at dawn.” 

She turned around and heard Captain Jee stand after her. “My lady, are you sure you don’t want additional soldiers as backup.”

“No need. Just have them wait for us at the dock.”

“We should still station some near you.” 

“That won’t be necessary,” Katara said. “I’ll only be at the noodle shop a few piers down.” 

“The noodle shop?” 

Katara lifted her hand to her new necklace and smiled to herself. “I have a date.” 

* * *

“Li, I heard you have a date!” Zuko nearly bent the metal pin he was using to secure his carefully crafted gear onto the Avatar’s glider. He looked up as the tattooed monk appeared beside him, next to his workstation, where he was sitting on the floor putting the glider back together. 

Zuko’s hands tightened on his tools and he tried to keep his face neutral. “Where did you hear that?” He asked, but already knew. The entire workshop was talking about it. In fact, early that morning, when Katara asked, anyone who was there and in the midst of working went silent. 

He couldn’t hear a single peep, let alone a clang of metal. All he could hear was the crackling of the flames from the forges behind him. He could also feel the half dozen eyes, including that of his boss, fixed on him, as if waiting for his answer. 

“Dinner?” He said the word as if it were in a language he’d never heard before. Katara smiled, her cheeks a warm rust as she nodded. 

“Let me treat you for the amazing work you did. You really went above and beyond what I expected.” She lifted her hand to her necklace. 

He opened his mouth to politely reject her, only to see his boss far behind her nodding his head and mouthing something. Zuko squinted. He wasn’t sure what he was mouthing and tilted his head to the side, trying to make it out. “Uh....” What was the old man saying? “Yes?” 

“Great!” His head had snapped back to Katara, realizing too late that he had unwittingly given her a positive response. Her smile was bright as she seemed to bounce backwards, heading towards the entrance to the workshop as she kept her eyes on him. “Master Fong told me the workshop closes before sunset, so let’s get some noodles at the noodle shop at the pier where I bumped into you that day. I’ve been eyeing their fire garlic noodle bowl. I’ll see you at sunset! Noodles on me!”

She didn’t even wait for him to reply with a confirmation and disappeared outside into the street. Zuko remained standing in place with a dumbstruck look on his face as his co-workers all looked at him with a mixture of awe and approval. “I...I didn’t say I’d go....” He spoke aloud, but no one seemed to hear him.

The rest of the day, he received wishes of good luck from the other smiths. At best, they were just wishes of good luck. At worst, it was bad romantic advice and for the sake of his job, he forced himself to endure. He was relieved when the Avatar arrived to get his glider fixed and he could focus on doing so while the Avatar chatted up those around him and diverted their attention.

Now he regretted it, as even the Avatar knew he had a date. 

“It’s not a date,” Zuko said. He lowered his head and continued working on the glider. 

“Really?” The bald man furrowed his brows and looked around, scratching the back of his head. “Everyone said it was.”

“She’s just treating me to dinner for a job well done.” He felt himself tense at his own acceptance of it. It wasn’t a date, but he was still going to meet up with her after hours. His intention wasn’t romantic, therefore, it wasn’t a date. He finished attaching the final piece and held out the glider. “What do you think?”  
The Avatar leaned forward and took it from Zuko’s hands. “It looks good....” He played with the various pieces, opening it and closing it. “It feels lighter without all the rust.” 

“I tried to match the weight of the original pieces so the balance won’t be off,” Zuko said as he pushed himself up and dusted off his pants. “I can guarantee the strength of the metal, but it’s my first time working on this, so I don’t know if the balance is correct.”

The Avatar grinned and tapped the bottom of the glider on the ground to make its wings extend. “Only one way to find out.” He turned towards the small office at the front of the workshop. “Master Fong! Do you think I can borrow Li while I’m testing this out? I need a wide expanse to use it and if any changes need to be made, I’d like Li there.”

Zuko looked surprised, but this was a welcomed request. He could leave the oppressive atmosphere of the gossiping forge, get his mind off wondering what he’d talk about with Katara that night, and get to know the Avatar, who’d come in handy if he was ever captured and was forced to face his uncle. 

“Master Fong, my work for today is just about done,” Zuko said, stepping forward. “I can bring some of my tools and do any adjustments on site.” 

His boss lifted an arm and gave them a positive nod of his head. As if there was a chance he’d reject the Avatar’s request. “Of course! Take him for as long as you need!”

Zuko was already gathering his tools into a wooden box with a handle. “Avatar, if you’ll follow me, there is a good space not far from here. It’s a new park they’ve built and you should have enough room to test out your glider.”

“Oh, is it Hai Feng Park? Yeah, I was thinking that,” the Avatar said, nodding as he looked over the top of his glider. He tapped it on the ground once more to retract the wings. 

“You’ve been there before, Avatar?” Zuko untied his apron and left it on top of his workstation before picking up his tool box and motioning to the entrance. The Avatar started ahead of him and he followed. 

“Li, please, you can just call me Aang.” The bald man laughed. “We’re around the same age. In fact, I’m pretty sure I’m younger than you. It’s kind of weird for you to call me Avatar.” 

Zuko wasn’t surprised about the request for informality. The Avatar - Aang - seemed like a casual, amiable person, as well as young. “Is there another honorific I should use?”

Aang shook his head, looking ahead of him as they walked to the large, wide park that had been created at one end of the harbor, so that park go-ers could admire the water as they walked alongside. 

“Aang is fine,” he said as he looked over his shoulder and grinned. “My friends call me that.” 

This person was definitely the right one to go to for help. He’d no doubt be sympathetic and wouldn’t let him be captured and killed for the circumstance of being Ozai’s son. Zuko tried to keep the conversation going. “That’s right, I remember you were here with your friends. Are you still staying with them?”

Aang nodded. “Yeah, your workshop was recommended by my friend, Sokka. I don’t know if you’ve ever met him, but he gets a lot of pipes and valves made at your place.” 

Zuko furrowed his brows. He typically didn’t work on those. “He probably works with another smith that has that specialty. How does he look like?”  
“Sokka is from the Water Tribe, so he still wears a lot of blue Water Tribe clothes. Brown hair, brown skin, blue eyes; talks a lot.” Aang laughed fondly at that.

Zuko nodded his head as they reached the entrance to the park. He tried to remember if he’d seen the Avatar’s friend that fit that description, but could only really remember one person in Water Tribe clothes with brown hair, brown skin, and blue eyes. He took three steps into the park, on the gravel path, and froze. 

Didn’t  _ she _ have a brother? He’d seen him at the noodle restaurant by the pier. Her brother fit that description as well. 

“Li?” Aang called out to him and he lifted his head. The Avatar was several steps ahead of him and gave him a questioning look. “Anything wrong?” 

Zuko opened his mouth, but no words came out. He swallowed and shook his head. “No, everything’s fine,” he said. He continued to walk ahead of him. They were heading towards a wide clearing. Past it was a gravel walkway and a low sea wall in the midst of being built. Beyond it was the bay with ships of all sizes dotting it. 

“This place looks good,” Aang said as he stopped and looked around. He tapped his glider on the ground once more and let the wings pop out. “If you want you can wait for me in the shade over there.”

He pointed to a row of trees not far from them and Zuko nodded. Something gnawed at the pit of his stomach and as he headed towards the shade. There was something else about Aang’s friend that he remembered him mentioning. He forced himself to turn around.

“Ava, I mean, Aang,” he said as he looked back at the man preparing to take off. Aang looked over his shoulder as he held the glider over his back. “Your friend...Sokka...does he have a sister?” 

Aang’s face brightened up and nodded. “Yeah, she’s visiting, too. I think I mentioned it when I came in the other day. She’s a bounty hunter. She said she was getting her necklace fixed at your shop, too. Maybe you’ve met her. Her name’s Katara!”

* * *

The sun had long set and she tried to remain calm as she sat at a small table, on the outside seating area of the noodle restaurant. Katara lifted a ceramic cup of now cold jasmine tea to her lips and took another sip. Part of her wanted to ask for another pot of heated tea, but she was already on her second one after waiting for so long.

“Miss?” A server approached her and Katara tried to hide her embarrassment. She’d been sitting there since the sun started to set. That was some time ago and she hadn’t ordered anything except a pot of tea. She assured the servers that she was waiting for someone. Someone who she was now sure wasn’t going to come. The server tried to look professional, but Katara could see the pity still on her face. “Did you want to order something to eat?”

Katara’s pleasant smile didn’t falter. She wouldn’t let her irritation and unexpected humiliation get to her. Sure, this was just a friendly dinner to thank him for his work with an underlying motive of trying to convince him to return to the Fire Nation peacefully as opposed to asking him out because she legitimately thought he was attractive and nice, but he just stood her up. 

She’d  _ never  _ been stood up before and. A rational part of her head told her that he might have real reasons for now showing up: too much work, lost track of time and completely forgot, tragic smithing accident. Another part of her was haunted by the idea that he just didn’t want to have dinner with her. 

Her hand tightened around her cup. At the very least, he could’ve sent someone to tell her he wasn’t coming. That was the polite thing to do, wasn’t it? She thought he’d come if she gave him an invitation since he put way more effort into her necklace. Rather than fix it, she’d replaced everything but the center stone and even added an additional touch. 

One that didn’t cost her extra. Master Fong assured her that if ‘Li wasn't charging her for it, then she wouldn’t be charged’. Did she read too much into it? Was he really just taking creative license to improve her necklace? 

Her face heated up, humiliated that she thought that maybe he wasn’t just being nice. That maybe he had some other interest in her. Spirits! She actually thought he was handsome and attentive and maybe,  _ maybe _ , slightly interested in her. She felt like an idiot for even a second of her delusion. She nearly slammed her cup on the table. 

“I’ll have one fire garlic noodle bowl.” She wasn’t going to leave without eating something. To do otherwise felt like she’d let the firebending jerk who stood her up win. The server looked both surprised and relieved. 

“Would you like an extra topping? On the house?” Was that a pity extra? Whatever, she’d take it. She’d need all the energy she could get to last her that night. 

“Seal blubber sauteed chicken pork strips,” Katara said. The thought of spending her night tracking and capturing the missing prince began to fill her with anticipation, pushing out the earlier annoyance. The server nodded and got her another pot of jasmine tea once her order was submitted to the kitchen.

Katara poured herself another cup and brought it to her lips. 

Since her initial plan didn’t work, she had no choice but to go with her back up plan. She wasn’t mad, of course. She was disappointed that it wasn’t as easy and non-violent as she hoped, but not mad. She sipped on her hot tea and smiled. 

After all, she didn’t become one of the best bounty hunters in the world by just talking her targets into coming with her. She didn’t mind the fight. In fact, it was what she was best at. 

* * *

“She’s considered one of the best bounty hunters in the world. She learned from the top bounty hunter in the Earth Kingdom, but she’s proficient in hunting in different terrains all over the world. In fact, she’s one of the few that do transnational hunts and the only one with a perfect record of captures.” 

He regretted asking more about Katara. The more he learned from the Avatar, who was clearly proud of her, the more anxious he became. 

“I see....” He hoped his sudden fear didn’t leak into his voice. “Is she here on a hunt?” 

Aang nodded and Zuko’s heart dropped. “Yeah, she says it’s classified, though.” Zuko tried now to show his displeasure. He wanted to know who Katara was hunting. “She said she’d tell us after she caught him, though. I think she’s planning on going out today to start.” 

As soon as Aang confirmed that his glider was in perfect condition, if not better than how he remembered it to be, Zuko gave him thanks and said he hoped he’d remember him. Aang took it as coming back if he ever needed to get his glider fixed again, but Zuko just wanted the Avatar to remember him if he was ever captured.

He all but ran out of the park, rushing home to gather his belongings. 

He told himself he was overreacting, but his body moved on its own. Katara was a confirmed bounty hunter, no matter how much she didn’t appear ir or he wanted to believe otherwise. Aang couldn’t confirm who she was hunting, but he couldn’t shake off the feeling that he was her target. He first bumped into her a little over a week ago. 

That was around the time, he started to feel like he was being watched. She noticed he was a firebender and even correctly identified the lingering traces of his native Caldera accent. Even her seemingly casual chatting when they were face to face at the workshop pried into his background and now, he wasn't sure his lies were believed. 

What was more, Katara had plenty of chances to get close to him. In fact, their first meeting was her running into him at the noodle shop. He held his breath as he hovered over his bed, where his things were scattered across. A chill shot through him. Did she target and identify him back then? Did she know the entire time that he was the missing prince on wanted posters and was confirming it? 

He paused. Was the reason she approached him to begin with just to confirm his real identity. He didn’t expect to feel disappointed. Zuko closed his eyes and pushed that feeling back.

He needed to get out of the city before she came after him and he was certain she would. Asking him to dinner was just a pretense to capture him and he stood her up. 

Zuko stuffed a few pairs of clothes into a worn, leather bag that would sling around his shoulders. He took the money he had left and shoved it beneath his tunic. As he slung the bag across his body, he looked out the small window of his room. His eyes narrowed. The clear night seemed to have faded into a foggy haze.

The bay fog rarely reached that far inland, but this meant it would be easier for him to slip through town with such low visibility. Zuko had lived there for years and he was familiar with the streets and foot paths. The fog would give him little trouble. 

On the other hand, for Katara, if she was bounty hunting him, was only visiting. She didn’t know the city like he did and the fog would only make her hunt more difficult since she couldn’t track well if she couldn't see. He took a deep breath to calm his nerves as he slid open his worn, wooden door. 

The cool night air filled his lungs as he headed north. The park he and Aang went to that afternoon led into dense forest that had yet to be taken over by the growing city. If he cut through it, he’d reach one of the northern trade routes that he could take to get back into the Earth Kingdom. He made a mental note of his plans as he cut through the narrow alleys of the city, staying alert. He'd stop every so often to listen for any footsteps following him. Every little noise that reached his ears would make him freeze in place and crane his neck to try to identify the sound. With the fog so thick, hardly anyone was out that night.

Once he listened and tried to look for anyone following him, he'd continue on his way. He figured he’d lay low for a while and move occasionally once he was out of the city. Zuko wasn’t sure if he’d return to the city, but if he did, he’d probably need a new alias. He couldn't help but feel disheartened. He thought he was finally been able to settle down. He had a place to live and a good, decent job. People who knew him actually liked him. He didn’t want to leave the meager life he’d built for himself. 

He shook his head. He’d simply grown too comfortable. He knew he’d never really be able to settle down. He needed to leave before Katara could track him. If the eyes he felt on him were hers, then no doubt she knew where he lived. If it wasn’t here, it would be some other bounty hunter that would force him out of the city.

If he was lucky, she’d still be waiting at the restaurant or went back to the workshop to inquire on where he was. He silently cursed himself for just vanishing from work. Master Fong and his fellow smiths were good to him and he just disappeared without a word. He felt guilty for doing so, but he couldn’t stay. Sending them word later might be dangerous, as well. 

He reached the entrance of the park and found himself looking over his shoulder for the hundredth time since he left his dilapidated shack, though he couldn’t see more than an arm’s length in front of him. His footsteps were light against the gravel path as he followed it towards the edge of the park. The slow, steady crunch coincided with his footsteps.

Then he heard a foreign crackle. The fog around him seemed to thin out and he felt cold. A crackling, cracking sound came from behind him and he stopped, turning around. The fog thinned out behind him and his feet felt colder than the air. He looked down and lifted his foot. 

His heart stopped as his feet refused to lift off the ground, as if encased in something and bolted to down. He lifted a hand and bent a yellow flame, bringing it down to his feet. Ice weighed down his feet and reached his knees, keeping him in place. 

She found him. 

He looked down at his feet and bent fire over the ice to try to melt it and loosen its hold on him. He tried to keep his breathing even as water began to bead off the ice. Just as he could feel his left foot move around beneath the ice casing, the fog seemed to wrap around his leg and re-freeze what was melting.

“I know you’re there!” Zuko called out, now trying to move and melt the nice at the same time. “You’ve made a mistake! I’m not who you think I am!” 

He listened for a response and none came, but he was sure she was there. He just didn’t know where. Scowling he looked back at his legs. The fog kept circling him and freezing. Fog was moisture in the air; essentially water. He made a mistake: the fog was her advantage. 

He lifted his arms into the air and began bending a massive ball of fire to evaporate the moisture and limit her advantage. With a growl, he sent a spiral of fire around him to clear the fog. The space around him cleared and he could see the full moon far above. He cursed his luck. Full moon and he was up against a waterbender. He should’ve run away in the daytime. 

As the fire dissipated in front of him, it illuminated a figure disappearing further back, deeper into the fog. Zuko managed to loosen his foot and twist his other foot free. He squinted, taking a step back as he lifted his arms. He bent another spiral of fire around him and this time, shot it up the path he was walking to see where he was going. He could see the dark outline of trees up ahead and made a run for it. 

He heard the crackling again. It was ice forming, but his mind realized it too late. Zuko put his foot down and, immediately, it flew out from underneath him. He let out a gargled cry of surprise as he fell backwards. He twisted his body once more to adjust and steady himself on his feet. 

“Nice save, Your Highness, but you’re still going to end up coming with me.” He looked up and saw her almost melt from the fog. “You can come willingly or I’ll have to drag you back. It’s your choice.”

He narrowed his eyes, trying to make out her features as he snorted out some hot air and flared his nostrils. He lifted his arms, bringing them into a fighting stance. “I told you, you have the wrong guy.”

“I didn’t spend a month in the Fire Nation and then spend a week tailing and confirming my suspicions just to believe you when you say you’re the ‘wrong guy’.” He was sure it was Katara, thought her voice had a harder edge to it. He found himself grimacing. 

“If this is about missing dinner with you, I’m sorry.” The sound of ice forming around his legs once more was loud and he wished he had kept his mouth shut.

“I wanted to give you a chance to thank you and ask you to voluntarily return, but I can’t say I’m not insulted,” Katara said. He could make her out clearly now that she was closer. Even as she approached him, he could tell she was on guard. Water pooled around her back like a floating, liquid scarf and encased each arm, ready to be used. “You missed some really delicious noodles, Prince Zuko.” 

“I’m not the prince!”

“You’re still going to lie to me.” He could hear the annoyance in her voice as he made out her frown. “I’ve already confirmed it. Your physical appearance matches, from eye color, to hair color, to the exact placement of your scar. Your accent tells me that you’ve lived here long enough to start to lose your original one. No one knows your history and even the old lady that lives in a town a few days from here doesn’t know where you came from before she and her husband took you in to learn smithing.” 

His eyes widened. “You...you went that far?” She really was as good as Aang said. Thorough and a master bender. And they were by the water, too. He needed to get further in land, away from the shore.

“I asked Master Fong your background when I first dropped off my necklace. She was your reference in getting the job. It doesn’t take long to travel by flying bison to check,” Katara said in a smooth voice. “You may have been able to get away with using those misprinted wanted posters and that play to convince soldiers that you’re not who you really are, but I don’t have the reputation I do to be dissuaded so easily.” 

Zuko concentrated on loosening the ice from his legs. As soon as he could he’d throw an attack at her and then flee. The forest was thick; he could hide and sneak around better. It could at least buy him time until the morning and maybe then he could face her and get away. 

“So, who paid you to come after me?” Right now, he needed to get loose. He lowered his arms and focused on heating the area around his legs. If he looked like he’d given up, she’d lower her guard. 

“I think you already know. Your uncle, the Fire Lord Iroh, has been searching for you since he took the throne. You are the only one of his relatives that is unaccounted for.”

The corner of Zuko’s lips curled upwards in a sneer. “And do you know what he wants once he gets me?” He already knew: execution or imprisonment.

He didn’t expect her answer. 

“Prepare you to take your place as his heir.” He stopped melting his feet and legs free as he drew his head back. 

“What?”

“The Fire Lord’s son, your cousin, was killed in Ba Sing Se before Iroh took back the Fire Nation. He never remarried and firmly believes that you are alive. He’s been sending men out to search for you for the last ten years and no one’s come up with anything. To think, all you needed to do was tell them the scar was in the wrong place.” She rolled her eyes. 

Zuko shook her head. She had it all wrong. “I don’t know what you’ve been told, but everyone knows that the Fire Lord wants to make sure I don't have any chance of taking the throne. That’s why he wants to capture me; to ensure that I don’t raise up and fight him in the future. But he doesn’t have to worry about that. I have no interest in returning to the Fire Nation or being killed.” 

Katara seemed to squint and at him as if he’d said something incorrect, but unsure why. “Where did you hear that?”  
“You’re a bounty hunter. You should know who else is in the republic; former supporters of my father, Ozai. They talk all about wanting to overthrow Fire Lord Iroh.” 

She frowned. “But you haven’t involved yourself with them, have you?”

Zuko scowled. “As if I would! I know exactly what they’d use me for. I’d just be a tool for them to use to get back to the Fire Nation. I struggled to survive for years, keeping a low profile, hiding from my father’s supporters, knowing that if I set foot on the islands again, I’d lose my head.”

“That’s not-”

“I don’t know what they told you, but I’m a threat to the Fire Lord. No one in the right mind would want me there alive!”

He could’ve sworn she looked pained for a moment . She shook her head as her eyes softened. “Zuko, no. That’s not why-”

“I’m not going back!” He felt a chunk of melted ice land on the ground next to him and he pulled his feet out from the ice. “You can either let me go and tell the Fire Lord you couldn’t find me, or better yet, that I’m  _ dead _ \- or-”

A stream of water sliced past him and he barely had time to jump out of the way. He lifted his arms and turned back to her. A thin stream of water was coming from a small vial she slipped out of her tunic pocket. 

“I’m afraid I can’t go back without you,” she said. She carried a serious look on her face. “I don’t want to hurt you Zuko, so please, come willingly. I can swear to you that you’ll be safe. No one wants you dead, least of all Iroh.”

As she spoke, he wished she was telling the truth. He would love to turn back time to a better place, where he wasn’t struggling to survive and constantly looking over his shoulder, filled with the dreadful anticipation that either someone wanted him dead or to use him. Katara didn’t seem to want him dead, either. 

She kept herself at a wary distance and hadn’t attacked him to kill. Just to restrain. She also seemed convinced that she was just bringing him in because his uncle missed him. Zuko grit his teeth. But just because Katara was convinced, didn’t mean it was true. He couldn’t risk it. 

He shook his head and lifted his arms. If he had to fight her to escape, he would. 

“I’m not going back.” 

Katara crinkled her eyes. “Zuko, you’re a good man. I don’t want to hurt you. Please.”

“No.” 

“You don’t want to fight me.” 

He stayed in his stance. “I’m not going anywhere with you.” 

Katara frowned. “Then you leave me with no other choice.” The liquid from the vial that was floating beside her hardened into a thin needle of a blade of ice. It took minimal effort to freeze it. He was impressed for just a moment. She threw out her arm, sending the ice needle at him, and Zuko took a deep breath and bent a wall of fire in front of him to evaporate the needle before turning to the side. 

Years of honing his firebending to be able to control the heat in metal taught him something he’d never learned as a child in the Fire Nation. He lifted his arms and could feel his energy gather at his fingertips. The air began to crackle as he gathered the energy and aimed his fingertips at the ground, just at Katara’s feet. 

Even if she was there to drag him to his death, she was just a pawn in a scheme, and he couldn’t shoot directly at her. He’d fight her if he had to, but it wasn’t as if he wanted to. He hoped his attack would be enough to shock her and he could get away. 

He watched her eyes grew large as his fingers sparked. Flashes of pale purple appeared around him, reacting to the humid air. She took a step back and he released the lightning. It made it the gravel path in front of her. 

Dirt and small stones flew into the air. He could see her be thrown backwards, but land on her feet, her arms up and shielding her face from the debris. Smoke and dust filled the area and he knew it would buy him time. Zuko turned and ran. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My apologies for the delay; there has been a lot of emotionally draining things happening recently concerning people I am very close to and I've not the will to write recently. I am still trying, though. Since this is only three chapters, we have only have one more to go. Thank you for reading!


	3. Three

He didn’t pause to watch her reaction. He just needed to escape. He looked towards the direction of the forest and was relieved to see that it was closer than he thought now that the fog, which Katara had used as a water source earlier, thinned out. Zuko almost wanted to smile as his heart skipped a beat. He was sure that she didn’t think that her bending would show him a clear path to freedom.

Still, he knew she could recover at any moment. He needed to put distance between them. If he needed to shoot another bolt of lightning, he would. 

If he needed to hurt her to escape.... 

The memory of her smiling face looking up at him at the shop filled his mind. Her bright eyes, the warm color of her smooth skin, and the elated look on her face when she saw her necklace. How good an actress was she to be able to blind him to her true motive for so long? 

His chest ached and as he ran for his life, he found himself wishing that everything that transpired between them from their first brush at the restaurant to her roping him into a meal there hadn’t been part of an elaborate plan to confirm his identity and capture him. 

Behind him, he didn’t hear any yelling ordering him to stop. Perhaps his little trick worked and it stunned her-

The crackling sound reached his ears once more and his heart flew to his throat. He looked down and saw the dull colored dirt he was running on start to shine with a faint sheen under the moonlight. Dread filled him as the thin layer of ice beneath his feet sounded with each desperate step. 

He could feel his grip loosening and instead of stepping, he began to slide. His arms shot out to try to regain his balance on the icy surface, but doing so slowed him down. In almost an instant, he was waving his arms out as his feet scrambled for a hold beneath him, leaving him a sitting turtle duck.

Despite the chill night and the cold air, sweat collected at his forehead. Around him, the fog suddenly reappeared and thickened before rushing in. His arms and legs felt resistance and then were completely constrained in place. He didn’t have time to react. His heart was slamming against his chest, his mind screaming that this wasn’t happening. 

His exposed skin began to burn against solid ice that encased his body like a shell as thick as his leg from his neck to where he was frozen to the ground. 

He tried to twist and turn, even wiggle his fingers, but his body wouldn’t respond. Zuko tried to look up, but found it difficult to even move his head. His eyes focus on her figure walking towards him as panic filled him. He was cornered. No; worse than cornered. 

He was completely trapped. 

“Zuko, don’t panic.” Katara maintained her distance, holding out her hands as if to show she was unarmed and wasn’t planning on attacking him. “Just take a deep breath. I’m not going to hurt you.”

Her voice was low and calm, her eyes never leaving his. Despite her attempts at pacifying him, the terror still gripped his body and the ice that encased him cracked with his rising body temperature and movements. 

He continued to twist his shoulders in an effort to pull himself away, but when the ice cracked and melted, it would quickly solidify again, sealing him in even more. 

A sharp breath wheezed out of him as his eyes darkened. “Let me go!” 

She shook her head slowly, her face full of regret. “I can’t do that, Zuko. Your uncle is waiting for you.”

He grit his teeth and struggled wildly in place. As he did so, he knew he was trapped, but he couldn’t stop himself from trying to escape. “You don’t understand! He’s going to kill me!”

“He’s not!” Katara took a step forward, but still remained cautious. “He won’t do such a thing. Do you know he’s been looking for you for so long? He’s been waiting for you to come home.”

“That’s not my home!”

Her eyes crinkled up and he hated the look of pity on her face. “Then where is your home, Zuko?” 

He swallowed hard and tried to turn his head away to avoid her expression, but his body couldn’t follow. Instead, he could only bore his gaze into the ground. He hated that he didn’t have an answer for her. What could he say?

The smithy here in the city was his home? That run down, one room shack that couldn’t even keep out the cold was his home? Would he have abandoned it so easily without a word to anyone, in the middle of the night, if he really saw it as that? And what were the people in his life right now other than passing acquaintances? 

He had long prepared himself for a life of solitude knowing that he was a fugitive wanted by one of the four nations. He would also be looking over his shoulder and that feeling of anxiety waiting for soldiers to see him and chase, no matter how comfortable or momentarily distracted he was, would _ never _ leave him.

This was his life and if he wanted to survive, he could not accept anything else.

“Zuko, please.” He shut his eyes tight as she pleaded. “You don’t have to believe me. I know that if you really believe that the Fire Lord wants you dead, nothing I say can change your mind.”

He spat out the words as he gave her a cold glare. “Then let me go.” 

She shook her head, the sadness on her face irritated him. “I can’t.” How dare she spout such flowery words to him only to deny him. “I gave my word to the Fire Lord that I would bring you to him.” 

He let out a harsh, bitter laugh. “So how much did he pay you to bring me in?” Did she want money? Not that he had any to pay her off. “Will bringing me to my death make you a rich woman?”

“I”m not....” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “The Fire Lord is not going to kill you.”

“And he told you that with his own mouth?”

Her eyes narrowed. “No.” His glare hardened. “He didn’t need to.” She lifted her chin and circled him, as if to check that he was fully encased. However, she still kept a good distance from him. “I’m sorry that I had to trap you like this. I know the ice hurts against your skin, but I can’t let you go.”

He still continued to struggle. “You really think you can hold me in ice forever?”  
“Not forever, just for now.” She looked satisfied that he was contained. Zuko scowled. “If you’re so confident, why don’t you get closer?”  
Her expression wavered and she crinkled her eyes. “You’re in a dire position right now and if you panic, you could hurt yourself, me, or the both of us.” She stepped back and pulled a small metal vial from the folds of her tunic. She unscrewed it and removed the cap before bending a small stream of water. 

She froze it with a small breath and then seemed to throw it at him. The icicle charging towards his head made him shut his eyes tight, however he didn’t feel the quick, sharp pain piercing him. Instead, it seemed to explode into a mist before it made contact and he felt it rest lightly against his skin. 

At first, he didn’t feel anything wrong. It was if he had run through the fog. He relaxed his body, which he tightened up when he saw the icicle coming towards him. His muscles loosened, he knew that much, but he couldn’t feel his limbs. He tried to move his fingers and legs. Nothing.

Fear filled his eyes and he tried to open his mouth to demand to know what he did to her. He couldn’t talk. If he thought he felt trapped in ice earlier, now he was trapped in his own body unable to move it. 

“It’s diluted shirshu toxin,” Katara said. “It will paralyze a person for a few hours, but won’t affect your breathing or other biological functions.” Her voice was eerily calm, as if she’d explained what it was a thousand times before. Katara walked forward, closing the space between them and lifted her hand over his eyes. She seemed to concentrate and while he couldn’t exactly feel what was happening, he could see some liquid being drawn from his skin and around her finger tips.

She threw her hand down, releasing the liquid on to the ground and he realized he could now blink. 

“I’ll remove you from the ice when we get to the ship,” she told him, as if making a promise. Zuko couldn’t answer even if wanted to. He could only watch as she raised her arms in the and made a smooth pulling motion, twisting her body away from the sea to his right. 

He heard the rumble of water as a wave rose and breached the seawall at the edge of the park. It swirled around them and he felt his body raised off the ground. The crackling of ice could be heard below him and he struggled to look around. 

A massive slab of ice formed a sort of raft beneath them and Katara raised her arms once again and the wave the ice raft was on rose and was carried over the seawall and smoothly laid on top of the water. The usual violent waves that smashed against the large stones at the base of the wall were nothing compared to a master waterbender.

The ocean seemed as calm as a lake as Katara moved her arms and propelled their ice raft forward. Zuko couldn’t see where they were going. He only knew that they were moving over the ocean at a rapid speed and that the fog around them didn’t deter Katara in the slightest. 

Everything movement was fluid and it didn’t feel at all like he was on a boat. The thought occurred to him then: he really didn’t stand a chance against her, even with lightning. Even Zuko knew that how she was bending was different from the usual waterbending styles; if she could do such a thing with ease, he would be out maneuvered every time. 

But even that resignation didn’t quell the bitterness in his heart. 

The fog thinned out as their speed slowed and from the corner of his eye, he could see metal walls. He knew what was coming, but his heart still sank. Their ice raft floated to a stop beside a massive metal ship that could only belong to the Fire Nation. 

“Lady Katara!” Someone shouted from the deck above them. “Someone get Captain Jee! Lady Katara has returned!”

“Move out of the way and clear the deck!” Katara shouted orders at them and people moved. His stomach lurched as their raft shot upwards on a large pillar of water and then was gently deposited on to the metal deck of the ship.

He heard gasps all around him and Zuko shut his eyes. He didn’t want to look at the people who were staring at him like some sort of spectacle. Suddenly, a warm cloth was draped over his head, shielding him from the onlookers. He opened his eyes and could see nothing. The cloth smelled faintly of sea salt and scented soap, with lingering body heat.

“Lady Katara...is this...?” A man’s voice was laced with disbelief. 

“This is His Royal Highness Prince Zuko,” Katara said in a firm voice. She sounded as if no one could contradict her. “Help me bring him to his room.”

* * *

The cloak that had been hanging off her back that night remained over his head until the ice was bent off his wrist and arms and he was shackled to a wall. Katara stood in the doorway of his ‘room’, watching the soldiers escorting them tighten the metal bands around his wrists. 

“We’re ready for his feet, Lady Katara,” the most senior amongst them said as they stepped aside. 

She looked down at his legs, still fully encased in ice, and moved her hands. The ice from his ankles down melted into floating puddles of water around them before she bent them out of the room and into the one across that was filled with jars of water. It was a precaution, albeit one that she didn’t want Zuko to see and make him feel even more trapped.

The soldiers took the shackles chained to the floor and snapped them around Zuko’s ankles. The tell-tale click of the locks secured them in place. As soon as all four limbs were bound by cuffs and chains, the soldiers seemed to scurry away, as if dealing with some dangerous animal that could lash out at any moment.

“You may leave,” Katara said, stepping side to give them clear access to the door.

The soldiers hesitated. “Lady Katara, is it safe-”

“Lady Katara will oversee His Highness personally for the duration of the return,” Captain Jee said in a firm voice. He stood behind her, watching the same scene with an unreadable expression. “Tell the crew to set off immediately.”

“Yes, Captain!” The three soldiers marched out of the metal lined room and Katara stepped in. Captain Jee followed her. 

“Lady Katara, is this man really His Highness?”  
“Yes. I’ve confirmed it myself,” she said. “You needn’t worry about security around him with me here, Captain. I will see to it that he won’t cause any trouble.” 

“I see...” There was hesitation in the old man’s voice, but he nodded regardless. “Then, I will send word back to the Fire Nation that we are en route with the prince.”

They exchanged bows and Captain Jee walked out. Katara eyed the open door and lifted her hand. The ice around Zuko melted and she threw it at the door, closing it shut before the water splashed on the floor, filling the wide chamber with a thin layer of water. 

She walked across and lifted her hands to remove her cloak from his head. 

At once, his golden eyes were glaring at her with such accusation and anger, she immediately looked away. 

“I’m sorry.” She swept her cloak back around her shoulders and fumbled with the tie at her neck. “I know this is very...uncomfortable for you.” Even she knew that ‘uncomfortable’ was an understatement. Of course, Zuko didn’t answer, but she could still feel his hateful glare. She turned her attention to his body and bent out the last of the water that was clinging to him. 

She then created a head sized ball of water in her hands and lifted them up to his shackled wrist. With slow, careful movements, she spread the water around his arm and fingers before doing some light healing. 

She had tried to get them back to the ship and him into his room as quickly as possible, but the time he’d spent encased in ice, firebender or not, could’ve still posed a risk of ice burns to his skin. At the moment, with the shirshu toxin still active in him, he couldn’t feel any pain, but he would once it wore off. 

Katara moved the water over every part of him that had been covered in ice to check and heal for any injuries caused by her extreme methods. She ended on her knees in front of him and finally pulled the water away.

“You shouldn’t have any problems from the ice. If you feel any discomfort from it, tell me. I’ll heal it,” she said. She looked up at him, hanging by his arms without the support of the ice. 

The room had a bed behind him, but at the moment, the chains on his arms were too tight to allow him to lay on it. She walked back towards the entrance and opened the door. The adjustments to the chains were outside and she loosened the crank to give the chains more give. She kept looking inside, checking if it was enough before stopping and rushing back. 

Zuko had been lowered to the floor, but had no control over his body. His face was flushed with humiliation and he refused to look at her as she knelt beside him and looped her arm under his to pull him up and onto the bed, as if he were an ill patient and not one of her targets.

“I should’ve put you on the bed first,” she said as she moved a thin layer of water over him once more to do one final check. “The shirshu toxin has another hour or so before it wears off. Just go ahead and rest here. I’ll bring you a meal then.” 

Katara tucked his arms at his sides as she sat on the edge of his metal bed. She bit her lips as she watched him keep his eyes diverted. She could understand how angry he was and how much he hated her at the moment. 

“If I were in your position, I’d hate me, too,” she said in a quiet voice. She was sure he was thinking that he was being led to his death and knowing that made her own heart ache. “I can’t imagine what you’ve been through these last few years...and I’m sorry you had to go through it alone.” Her fingertips touched his messy bangs and moved them aside, so they weren’t all over his face. “I know you don’t believe me, but I promise that as long as I’m here, no one will hurt you.” 

He shut his eyes and Katara pulled her hand away. She clutched it against her chest as she rose to her feet and walked out of the room. She bent the layer of water on the ground out with her and closed the iron hatch door. 

She had brought in so many people in her time as a bounty hunter. Everytime she accepted a job, she completed it. Her record was perfect and she always thought it was because she was able to adjust her methods in a way to best suit her target. Sometimes, the shirshu toxin was needed; other times, her target just needed someone to listen. 

June used to simply bring a bounty strapped to Nyla’s back, paralyzed and stunned that they were caught. Katara couldn’t always find it in her heart to do that, especially with bounties varied from wanted criminals to missing family members. She began to try to talk to them, to find out their side of the story and help them calm down and rationalize the situation. 

It made for targets who were much easier to work with and didn’t get violent. A violent target was a danger to themself, as she’d told Zuko. 

This time, however, it wasn’t a simple runaway that needed to be convinced that his parents missed him. Katara closed her eyes and leaned back against the door. Her primary bending training had been in healing. She was a bounty hunter and a warrior, yes, but she was always a healer.

But a healer could only do so much for another person. No matter how much she wanted to convince him, no matter how much she wanted to help him, she couldn’t fix Zuko’s mind set or his broken heart. 

“Lady Katara,” a man’s voice called from the far end of the hall. Captain Jee was standing there, looking at her with concern. “You should rest, as well.”

She took a deep breath and pushed herself off the door. “I need to wait until he can move and gage his reaction,” she said as she walked towards him. “When I’m certain he won’t cause too much trouble, then I can rest.” 

“He is our prince, Lady Katara. We should take care of him, as well. We can’t place the entire burden on you,” he said as she passed him. 

She shook her head. “He’s not a burden, Captain. I brought him in. He is my responsibility until I bring him to the Fire Lord.”

“I understand.” She began to climb up the stairs to the deck. “My lady,” he said, making her pause halfway up. She looked over his shoulder. Captain Jee clasped a fist into his palm and bowed. “Thank you for bringing His Highness back.” 

Katara let out a low breath. Her eyes moved back to the locked door down the hall. “I haven’t done anything worth your thanks.” 

* * *

The numbness began to fade little by little. He began to feel the fabric of his clothes first and then he could clench and unclench his muscles. His fingers and toes began to move and finally, his arms and legs. Still, it took Zuko some effort to regain his motor skills and push himself into a sitting position on the bed.

He looked down at his wrists and ankles chained to the floor and closed his eyes. He leaned forward, covering his face with his hands as he was forced to face the situation he was in. His entire adult life so far was spent trying to avoid this very situation and in one night he had been captured.

There wasn’t a prolonged chase. There was no epic battle against a handful of soldiers trying to bring him in. No...there was one woman and her near godlike waterbending that subdued him in ten steps and entrapped him in a ship. 

A bitter laugh escaped his lips as he lifted his head and shook it. So this was the skill of the Avatar’s bounty hunter friend. It really was impressive. 

He clenched his jaw. Not only could she bend well, she could talk well, too. What was she saying about being sorry and that no one would hurt him? If she were sorry, she’d let him go. If no one was going to hurt him, he wouldn’t be chained to a wall on a ship bound for the Fire Nation. He wouldn’t believe her sweet words, no matter how soft and gentle her fingers were touching his hair or how meticulous she was in making sure he wasn’t injured. 

Nothing she said or did could change the fact that he was going to die. 

He almost couldn’t believe it had finally come to this.

Across the room, he heard several knocks against the metal door before the sound of metal clanking was heard unlocking it. It let out a high squeal as it was pushed open and someone entered the room.

“How are you feeling?” Zuko didn’t look up nor did he answer as Katara stopped several paces from him. “It...looks like the toxin has worn off. There shouldn’t be any lingering side effects.” 

Silence remained between them and after a while, he heard her let out a low, deep breath. “I brought you something to eat. I’m sure you must be hungry.” 

He closed his eyes, wondering how she could keep talking so calmly, as if they were friends. He clenched his hands as the irritation at her pacifying demeanour rose. Who’s fault did she think it was that he was chained to a wall and trapped in a metal cell? 

“Zuko. At least try to eat something. It’s almost morning and I doubt you ate anything last night.” 

The clanging of chains filled the room as he shot to his feet and rushed forward. “Don’t talk to me as if you care!” The metal chains strained to hold him back as he lunged towards her, fuming. 

“Lady Katara!” Two soldiers rushed into the room only to see him looming less than an arm’s length in front of Katara; his arms up and restrained by thick, taunt chains pulling against the wall. He couldn’t get more than two steps from his bed and from the unflinching look on Katara’s face, she already knew that.

She stood in place, meeting his eyes with a neutral expression, as if she knew that he’d react in such a way. In her hands, a metal tray remained unaffected by his outburst. A bowl of cold rice noodles topped with sauce and chili flakes should’ve been appetizing, especially since he hadn’t eaten since lunch the day before, but he didn’t care what was offered.

He ground his teeth together, snarling as hot air snorted through his nostrils like an enraged sabertooth moose. 

“Stand down.” For a moment, no one was sure who Katara was ordering: Zuko or the soldiers. She turned her head towards the two soldiers and gave them a small nod of her head. “It’s all right. Stand down. I’ve got this.”’

They looked towards Zuko and then back at her with hesitation written all over their faces. Still, they lowered their arms. “We’ll be right outside the door, my lady.”

She gave them another nod and watched them leave before looking back at Zuko. 

“It looks like you’ve regained all movement.” She looked unshaken and Zuko took a step back, but keeping a fierce glare on her. “Is there any discomfort?”  
“What do you think?” He didn’t bother holding back the bitter, hateful tone in his voice. Why would he? 

“I know the shackles are uncomfortable, Zuko, but the crew wouldn’t be at ease without them,” Katara said. “If they’re hurting your wrists-”

“What? You’ll loosen them?” He looked over his shoulder and sneered. They both knew she wouldn’t. 

She moistened her lips and let out another low breath, as if trying to find the right words to calm him. “If there is any redness or swelling, I can heal them. They shouldn’t be too tight, but if you keep moving, there is of course going to be some friction.” He rolled his eyes and sat back on his bed. “How about I just leave the food here?” 

She knelt down and placed the tray on the ground. Before she could push it towards him, he spoke up. “You want me to eat off the ground like a dog?” 

He watched her blue eyes lift to look at him. “They won’t allow me to bring in a table. Can you eat it on your lap?” She pushed it closer to him. 

Zuko turned his head away in distaste. “I’m not hungry.” 

“But you will be. You have to eat-”

“I said I’m not hungry. Take it away.” 

She rose to her feet, leaving the tray of noodles and cup of tea as close as she could to him. She stepped back. “Then eat when you are.” She headed to the door and Zuko glared at her back. 

She didn’t reach the doorway before he got up and kicked the metal tray across the room. It slammed into the wall and the ceramic bowl and cup fell to the side and hit the ground, breaking apart into large pieces. Katara didn’t turn around immediately, though the two soldiers rushed in once more. 

She lifted her hand to stop them and shoo them back. “It’s fine,” she told them, trying to remain calm. “Open the door across the hall.” 

He could see what they were doing from where he stood over the spilled noodles and tea. Katara moved into a bending position and a stream of water came through the door. 

Zuko tensed at the sight. His eyes crinkled up as he took a subconscious step back, readying himself to be frozen once more. 

Instead, the water circled the broken ceramic and spilled food and drink. It surrounded them in a bubble of water as Katara sent a soldier to pick up the tray. She bent the food, bowl, and cup out the door with the soldier following her. She paused at the threshold. 

“I’ll return in a few hours with your lunch.” 

A moment later, the heavy lock echoed and Zuko was alone. 

* * *

He had refused eight meals now. Three breakfasts, three lunches, and two dinners. Each time, Katara brought him a tray of food: noodle dishes, soups, rice bowls, grilled meats, stews, all with cups of tea or water. And each time, Zuko refused to eat, either knocking the dishes off the tray or simply ignoring it and her.

It was his third day on that ship and no matter how angry and bitter he was at his capture, he couldn’t ignore his hunger forever. His stomach twisted, clamouring for nourishment, but regardless of how hungry he was; no matter how good the dish presented, he didn’t eat or drink. 

Not that he planned on doing a hunger strike. It was useless to do so; what would it accomplish? They’d let him starve and bring his emaciated body to the Fire Lord regardless. Zuko just didn’t want to accept what he was given. What good was giving him hot, delicious food served on elegant ceramic tableware if he was chained to a wall? It was laughable. 

He wondered if the soldiers on board knew how ridiculous it was. Did Katara tell them? When she came with his meals, no one else was allowed inside. No matter how unruly he was kicking aside the dishes and yelling for her to leave him alone, no one else entered his cell. 

Only Katara and she had done so in silence with a look of pity that only angered him further. 

The lock turned and the door squealed open. Her footsteps were almost unheard as she entered and Zuko didn’t react. He remained laying on his bed, his hands folded on top of his stomach as he stared blankly at the ceiling with exactly 148 bolts securing it. He was starving after three days and he didn’t want to waste his energy showing his displeasure. 

“You have to eat,” she said. She sounded closer than usual and turned his sunken eyes towards her. Katara was well within his reach today. Did she think he was too weak to attack? “At least drink something.” 

His lips were dry and his throat was parched. Zuko had to resist the urge to lick his lips as he saw the tea cup with its shadows of steam on the tray in her hands. He swallowed hard and looked back to the ceiling.

“You don’t have to talk to me. Just please drink something.” He refused to answer. “Zuko.” The plea in her voice hardened. “If you don’t drink something willingly, I will  _ make _ you.” 

It was a threat and for a moment, he was surprised she actually gave one. His eyes flickered to her and saw the pity he usually saw on her face gone. Instead, he was faced with a steely determination and he couldn’t help but become a bit nervous. What was she going to do to him?

“I told you. I don’t want to eat-” His voice was cut off by a low, loud rumbling in his stomach and his eyes crinkled up. Despite himself, an embarrassed blush reached his pale cheeks as he cursed his stomach. 

He didn’t catch the small smile tugging at Katara’s lips. “You don’t want to eat, but your stomach does. I made you some porridge with seaweed. You haven’t eaten for days and can’t stomach anything heavy right now.” 

Zuko took a deep breath and turned his head away. “Leave the bowl.” 

“I want to see you eat it.” 

He looked back at her and frowned. “I’ll eat when you leave.”  
“Let me see you eat a spoonful and I’ll leave.” He narrowed his eyes and slid his legs over the side of the bed. He pushed himself up, into a seated position, and tried not to flinch when Katara took a step closer and placed the tray on his lap. She picked up his spoon and reached for his hand.

He pulled his hand back and scowled. “I can use it by myself!” 

She glanced at his face and smiled a bit. “Good,” she said. She thrust the spoon’s handle at him, expecting him to take it. “Then I don’t have to feed you myself.” 

He licked his lips and diverted his eyes, snatching the spoon from her hand and shoving it into the porridge. He stirred it a bit, examining its contents before taking a spoonful and bringing it to his nose to sniff it. It didn’t smell too rich of spices. Nothing stood out.

“Do you think I’m trying to poison you?” She raised a brow and crossed her arms over her chest as she stood across from him. He looked up at her, still frowning, but he didn’t confirm his suspicion.

He brought the soup to his lips and blew over it before putting a small amount into his mouth. 

“Any numbing sensation? Perhaps some bitterness?” Katara asked, as if mocking him for his earlier assumption. He gave her another glare. 

“It’s salty.”

“I added dried fish flakes from my own private stash. It gives the porridge some more flavor,” she said with a slight shrug. “Eat the rest and finish the tea. I’ll come back later to pick up the empty dishes and tray.” 

She was good on her word. As soon as he put the remainder of the spoon in his mouth and swallowed, she turned around and walked to the door. The heavy metal closed and Zuko shoveled the rest of the bowl into his mouth. He scraped the bowl empty and then picked up the tea. It wasn’t too hot and he had no problem drinking it in one go. 

For the first time in days, he felt full and leaned back against the wall. 

How many more days until they reached the Fire Nation? How much longer could he live like this? Starving himself did nothing and in truth, he didn’t want to. Zuko closed his eyes.

He didn’t want to die.

* * *

After he ate her porridge, she had returned earlier than expected with a smaller tray. He thought he’d come pick up the used dishes and tray in the morning, when she exchanged it for his breakfast, but it was likely still night when she returned and had a bowl of yellow-white mush.

“It’s banana star fruit,” she said. She could probably see the look of disgust on Zuko’s face. “Eat it. You need to regain your energy.”

“I just ate a while ago.”

“You need to eat again.”

“I don’t-”

“Either you eat it yourself,” Katara said, picking up the small spoon on the tray and scooping up some of the mush. She held it up in a vaguely threatening manner. “Or I feed you myself.” 

Zuko narrowed his eyes and opened his mouth to tell her to just leave the bowl when she leaned forward and something sweet and smooth, but mushy filled his mouth. He instinctively closed it, only to feel the metal spoon pulled away, but leaving the fruit mush inside. 

His eyes were wide as he looked at her, filled with accusation and silently asking what she had done. Katara looked pleased. “Swallow.”

His body reacted before he could think of a way to protest or even just spit out the fruit. He swallowed the mush and let out a gagging sound. 

“What are you doing!” He rubbed his throat and looked up at her. 

“Feeding you.”

“I can feed myself!”

“Then here.” She offered him the small bowl and fruit and he took it without question. He scooted further away from her as he inspected the food. He heard her sigh. “It’s not poisoned.” 

“I didn’t say it was. It just looks...strange.”

“You haven’t eaten for several days, you need food that will ease you back in and banana star fruit is good for that sort of thing,” Katara said. “In a day or two, we’ll go back to noodles, all right?” 

Zuko swallowed the fruit mush, but didn’t look back at her. “I’ll eat what I’m given.” 

“I suppose that’s the best I can get from you,” she said, sounding resigned. She took a seat on the opposite end of his bed and Zuko snapped his head to look at her.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m waiting for you to eat so I can bring the used dishes back.”

“Must you sit there?” They looked at each other for a moment before Katara pushed herself back on to her feet and took a few steps away.

“Is this better, your highness?” 

He scowled at the title and looked back down at the bowl. “Don’t call me that.”

“It’s something you have to get used to being called,” Katara said. “You are a prince.”

“Maybe for now.”

“Do you plan to refuse the Fire Lord’s plan to make you his heir?” Katara crossed her arms over her chest and looked at him. 

She really seemed to believe that and, regardless of his situation, he almost felt bad for her for being led on. Even if she was a ruthless bounty hunter who captured him in a matter of moments, her tending to him the past few days despite his yelling and refusal to eat showed a stubborn sincerity and he picked it up. 

Katara truly believed that she was bringing him back for something better and had no idea she was being used. 

He lifted his head to meet her gaze. “Would you have gone after me if you knew I was going to die?” 

Her arms uncrossed and she drew her head back, a faint look of surprise was on her face at his question. “Why would you ask me that?”

“Would you?” 

Katara’s brows knit together and she frowned. “No. I don’t go after death bounties. I’ll bring in fugitives that’ll be imprisoned for life, but not to be killed. I’m not an executioner.” 

“What if I’m imprisoned when we arrive?” he asked, watching her reaction. 

She shook her head. “You won’t be.” 

Zuko looked away and shoveled the rest of the mush into his mouth before putting the spoon in the bowl and thrusting it towards her. “You don’t know that.”

“Zuko-” He held out the bowl, expecting her to take it. Katara, let out a low breath and took it from his hand. Her warm fingertips brushed against hand as she took it. “I won’t-”

“I’ve eaten,” Zuko said. He laid down across his metal bed and rolled to the side, curling his legs up and keeping his back to her. “Leave.” 

It took a while longer until he heard her picking up the used dishes and trays. “I’ll be back in the morning with breakfast.” 

He didn’t answer. The door to his room shut and locked. He closed his eyes to try to lose himself in the sweet unfeeling realm of sleep. He was just about to doze off when he heard the door unlock. At once, he was alert. Katara wasn’t supposed to come back until the morning and it was far too early for her to return. 

He clenched his fists, ready to go on the defensive. He heard light footsteps that couldn’t have belonged to a soldier in their bulky uniform. Was it Katara? She would’ve told him she was coming. It couldn’t be her. 

There was only one reasonable answer: assassin. 

He smirked as a bitterness filled him. He supposed his uncle couldn't wait to get rid of him after all.

When the soft footsteps got close enough he heard a quiet ‘woosh’ and he sprung from the bed. He raised his fists, aiming them at the assailant as fire ignited at his knuckles. He punched his arm forward, recognizing blue eyes and somewhat surprised expression too late. 

He couldn’t pull back. He’d already started his attack and the only thing he could do was twist his body to change trajectory. His fire swung to the side, narrowly avoiding the woman standing just two steps from him and holding a blanket in her hands. 

Zuko looked at her unsteadily. “What are you doing here?” He could’ve killed her. His heart was racing as the blood rushed from his face. Agni, he  _ could’ve killed her _ . His hands were shaking as they fell to his sides. 

“I thought you were cold.” She looked surprised, but not frightened. If anything, Zuko probably looked more scared than she did. She lifted up a worn dark red blanket and seemed to have a pillow pinched under one of her arms. “I brought you a blanket and pillow.” 

A jagged breath left him as he fell back against his bed. What kind of ridiculous reason was that for her to be there? “You said you’d be back in the morning. I thought....” 

“I was, but you looked uncomfortable on the metal bed, so I went to get you a blanket and pillow. I should’ve brought them earlier, actually. Sorry about that.” She gave him an embarrassed smile and he stared at her. 

He’d nearly sent a ball of fire at her face and she stood there, smiling at him? His voice was raspy as he narrowed his eyes. “I almost killed you.”

She softened her look. “I’ve been a bounty hunter for years now,” she said, taking a step forward and holding out the unfurled blanket. “Do you think you’re the first target I’ve had who has tried to kill me in order to escape.”

“I wasn’t trying to-”

“You thought I was going to kill you,” she said, as if it were obvious. She gave him a wry smile. “You wouldn’t be the first who thought that, either.” 

Zuko slumped forward on the edge of the bed. If she wanted him dead, he would already be so. He’d gathered that much. The only reason he was probably alive right now was because Katara was there and she was making sure of it. If there was one person on that entire ship who likely didn’t want him dead, it was her. 

“I’m sorry.”

“It happens more often than you think.” 

“But still.” He lifted his head to look at her, his eyes red. “I don’t want to hurt you.” For a moment, the room was silent. Only the faint creaking of the metal ship could be heard between them. 

Katara seemed to take a deep breath and walked closer. She stood right in front of him and wrapped the blanket around his shoulders. “It’s getting late,” she said as she reached under her arm and pulled out the pillow. “You should get some sleep.” 

He lowered his head and nodded. “Thanks.”

“I’ll see you in the morning. I mean that this time.” She backed away and Zuko could only nod, still in a bit of a daze after his earlier attack. He accepted the blanket and pillow without a word and numbly arranged them on his bed. The door closed once more and locked, not to open until morning.

* * *

She shut the door to her room and covered her heated face with her hands. Katara slid to the floor, wanting to quell her heart slamming against her chest. She didn’t expect his reaction when she went to bring him the blanket and pillow.

Not the part where Zuko jumped up all of a sudden and threw fire at her; she’d readied herself for that. Upon entering, she was only partially distracted with making sure the blanket was large enough for him; however, when she got closer to him, she realized he wasn’t breathing. Or rather, he was holding his breath. 

It was common for anxious people to hold their breath before an attack, as if breathing would give them away. So, instead of draping the blanket over him and leaving so as not to bother him, as she had planned, she stood in place and waited. He didn’t disappoint her. Before she could take a step to the side and avoid the fire, he had twisted his own body to change the direction.

She didn’t expect that. She didn’t expect anything after that. Not the look of horror on his face at the realization of what he’d almost done to her. Not the regret. Not the apology. 

And certainly not the ‘ _ I don’t want to hurt you _ ’. 

Katara just spent her days hoping to make him comfortable and perhaps ease his mind about what awaited him in the Fire Nation. If he was more at ease, he would be less likely to become agitated and violent. 

Any silly thoughts she had about him before she captured him had been pushed out of her mind in order to make sure he was safe. He was her target and responsibility first and foremost. 

Her fingers rose to her neck and touched the necklace he’d worked on and then placed on her. Aside from her mother, no one else had ever helped her put on the necklace. Zuko was now the only other person and she’d be lying to herself if she wasn’t aware of that when she held it out to him and asked him to do so. 

Maybe her actions did have something to do with trying to lure him out so she could talk to him about returning, but there were other ways. It was just that she thought he was interesting...and  _ interested _ . After all, the little blue stone added to her necklace wasn’t an accident. 

Then he stood her up and she went to capture him. The anger and hate in his eyes when he looked at her was prominent even when he was weakened by his hunger strike. She was sure that any interest he may have had in her was long gone and he only saw her as an enemy who was leading him to his doom. 

But when he looked at her after he shot fire at her.... That stubborn, awkward would-be prince she had watched toiling away in a smithy was still there beneath the anger and it made her hope that maybe he still was _ interested _ .

Katara groaned into her arms as she curled her knees to her chest. Her stomach had begun to flutter and her heart had started to race. Her mind screamed at her: Zuko was not an option no matter what she seemed to feel between them. If he held any affection for her or if she held affection for him, it didn’t matter. He was a prince and her job was to bring him home.

“This isn’t happening....” 

Sokka always did say she had bad taste in men. 

She tilted her head back against the door. “Focus, Katara....”  _ Don’t like him like that. You are a professional. You have a job to do. _

She took a deep breath and collected herself. She just needed to focus on keeping him safe and making him comfortable about returning. It was a mantra she kept repeating until she drifted off to sleep. 

The next two days, she’d still bring him his three meals per day, but would stay until he finished and tried to get him to open up and trust her. If he trusted her, maybe he could trust her words. However, no matter how she tried to hint at the glorious future that awaited him in the Fire Nation, Zuko would only shake his head and go quiet in silent disregard of her words. 

That was if she was lucky. 

“How are you feeling? Is the food enough?” she asked as she watched him finish the spicy cold noodles. “Your body should be able to eat more now. I can get you another bowl.”

“No. This is enough.” His answers were to the point, but at least they were a sentence. 

“What about tea?” Katara glanced at the empty cup. “I’ll bring you the pot next time.”

His gold eyes peered over the edge of the bowl. He swallowed the last of the noodles and lowered the bowl to his lap. “You don’t need to do this.”

“Do what? Feed you?” She chuckled. “I said I’d make sure you’re safe.”

“No one else has come to see me. I doubt anyone on this ship will,” he said, placing the chopsticks in the bowl. “I doubt I’ll be attacked.”

She shifted in place. “Then safe and comfortable.”

He paused once more, his eyes met hers for a moment before looking away. “That’s not necessary.” 

“I know you think you’re a prisoner and I know the shackles only emphasize that, but we’re just concerned that-”

“That I’ll try to escape and hurt myself. You’ve said that already.” 

She bit her lower lip and lowered her eyes. She took his empty bowl and placed it on the tray. Katara put it on the floor and knelt down. 

“Let me see your wrists.” 

“What?”  
She reached to her side and bent some water from a waterskin hooked on to her belt. “It’s been a few days and you’ve been moving around. The metal must’ve caused some redness. Let me check.”

Katara lifted her hands that were surrounded by water. Zuko seemed uncertain, but held out his hands at her. The cool water moved around his wrist and slipped between the metal bands and his skin. She concentrated and the water began to glow. 

“It’s not that bad.”

“Redness and some swelling,” Katara said. She moved her hands away. “Your ankles.” He didn’t protest as he tugged up his pants and she repeated the process. “I’ll check again in a few days. If it starts to hurt, tell me.”

He let out a small sound, as if agreeing. “You don’t have to do this.”

She looked up and offered him a small smile. “I want to.” She pushed herself up and bent the water back into her waterskin. “You’re going to have to get used to people fussing over you like this.” 

“If you mean being watched from my cell, I can hardly wait.” 

Katara let out another tired breath. “Zuko, I’m not going to let anyone put you in prison.” He lifted up his shackled wrists as if to tell her it was too late. She frowned. “This is different. We can’t risk you jumping overboard or injuring yourself trying to escape. There are hundreds of crew members and soldiers on board. If you react to them how you reacted to me at the park, this entire ship could go down.” 

“So even though I’m not a ‘prisoner’, I’m still going to be treated like one. I can’t even go on deck and get air.” He looked bitter and shook his head. 

Katara felt a headache coming. While she had to keep him safe, she also had to make sure that the crew on board didn’t get into a regrettable situation. And as much as she wanted to trust Zuko, she wasn’t fully confident that he wouldn’t try to escape. 

“I’m sorry. I can’t bring you out.”

“Why?” He gave her an incredulous look. “Where would I escape to? We’re on a ship, aren’t we? In the middle of the ocean? Where would I go and how would I escape from a master waterbender surrounded by her element?” 

Katara took a deep breath and frowned. “That’s not what I meant.”

“Then what did you mean?”

“I mean that I’m afraid that if you go up on deck, you’ll do something reckless,” Katara said. She’d seen it before. “I know that when people feel cornered, they become desperate and I can’t risk you hurting yourself if you do.”

“What does it matter?” Zuko looked away and fell back against the wall his bed was pushed beside. “Even if I’m hurt, I’m still going to die.”

“You’re not going to die.”

“You really believe that?” 

“Yes. Yes, I do.” 

“I don’t know what they told you to try to bring me in, but that’s not what’s going to happen. I told you, as soon as I set foot in the Fire Nation, I’m going to be killed.”

Katara looked at him as if he were mad. “That doesn’t even make sense! Why would the Fire Lord want you back alive if he was just going to kill you? Haven’t you ever thought of that?” she asked, her eyes narrowing. “If he wanted you dead, why was it a search and not an assassination order?” 

“It’s likely he wants to make sure I’m dead.”

“They could always bring in the body if that were the case.”

“The body could be tampered with or made to look like me. He likely wants to make sure I’m who he thinks before sentencing me to death.”

Katara threw her arms in the air and turned around, pacing the room in front of him, frustrated. He was always like this; always so stubborn! “Are you honestly saying that you believe that the Fire Lord would spend years of effort just to find you and bring you back just so he can watch you die?” Zuko didn’t answer and Katara whirled around to look at him. “The Fire Lord wouldn’t do that!”

He scowled and met her sharp eyes with his own. “You don’t know the Fire Lord.”

“And you do?” she asked, daring to take a step closer. “I spent six months in the Fire Nation finding out everything I could about you so I could find you and bring you back. Do you know why?” 

Her face twisted with fury, but Zuko didn’t back down. “It was your time to waste.” 

She heated up and bore her eyes into his. “Because that man you think is a monster who wants to kill you had tears in his eyes when he was asking me to find you: the only member of his family left! He was so desperate to find you, Zuko, he sent waves after waves of his men all over the world looking for you! This entire ship and its crew was put at my - a foreigner from a former enemy nation - disposal just to find you! Even now, when everyone in the Fire Nation is certain you’re dead, Lord Iroh still wholeheartedly believes you’re alive and will come home. How could he possibly wish for your death?”

He refused to believe her. No matter how much he may have wanted her words to be true, he  _ couldn’t _ believe her. 

“Even if it isn’t death, it’ll be imprisonment.” 

Katara crinkled her eyes. For a moment she looked helpless. “Do you really believe your uncle would do that to you?” 

In the past, no. Even Zuko could admit that much. When he was a child, his uncle wouldn’t lift a finger against him. If anything, Iroh had dotted on him and treated him like a second son. An aching filled Zuko’s chest once more and he shut his eyes to try to dispel the old memory. 

“War changes a person.” General Iroh had turned against the Fire Nation after Ba Sing Se. He was not the uncle Zuko remembered. The uncle he knew would never have done that. 

“It does. Zuko, war took his son,” Katara said, sounding strained. “It took your cousin and he didn’t want it to take you, too.” 

She looked tired as she turned away from him. She picked up the tray with the dirty dishes and left once more.

* * *

* * *

Perhaps she had given up. While Katara still came to bring him food, she wasn’t as chatty as before. Her not so subtle hints that his uncle was missing him and that he’d be welcomed home as a prince became simple questions on if he was still hungry or if his shackles were starting to hurt him.

At first, Zuko was fine with this change of demeanor. He didn’t need anyone trying to get his hopes up when he knew what awaited him. But Katara was his only human contact; the only person who would talk to him. Now, it felt as if there was more distance between them than there had been when they first bumped into each other at the restaurant. 

It didn’t settle well with him. 

He finished his dinner and watched as Katara placed the dishes on the tray. As she was about to leave, he spoke up. “How much longer?”

“Five or so days,” she said, pausing for a step before continuing on.

“Are you going to freeze me again to bring me out?” This time she stopped. 

“No,” she said, her back still turned to him. “They want to put you in cuffs.” Of course they did. Even when he had nowhere to run in the Fire Nation, they wouldn’t give him an opportunity to try. “I’m trying to talk them out of it.”

He looked back at her and knit his brows together. “What?”

“I’ll escort you directly to the palace,” Katara said. “A palanquin should be waiting at the dock. I’ll be with you the entire time.” She looked over her shoulder sharply. “Is that a problem?” 

“No....” He lifted his hands, the chains clinking together as he looked surprised. “I just thought I’d be brought directly to the palace dungeons.”

Katara took a deep breath. “Your uncle doesn’t know that you think he’s going to kill you and that you want to escape. He believes that this whole time, you’ve been lost somewhere, unable to get back.” She turned around to look at him. “He believes you want to go home.” 

Zuko narrowed his eyes. “Why would he believe that?” 

“Because he wants you to come home,” Katara said. Her face was cold, as if she’d given up on him and he felt uncomfortable with her gaze. “It’s a hope he’s been clinging to. You’re the only unaccounted member of his family left. As you know, your cousin, the Fire Lord’s son, was killed in Ba Sing Se. Your sister and mother were caught in the crossfire of the raid to take power from your father. It was too late for your sister, but your mother was still alive when she was found. The Princess didn’t make it, unfortunately. Internal bleeding. No one told her that your sister was dead or that you were missing. They didn’t have a chance. 

“Your father was imprisoned. He lost his mind...and one day, the soldiers who brought him his meal found him dead. A stroke. He was imprisoned for three years.” Katara pursed her lips, frustration and bitterness on her face. “All the members of his family are gone and not because he wanted them to be. Did you know that, Zuko? Did you even know how your family died?” 

Her hands gripped the tray as she turned around and walked out, leaving him seated on his bed. He knew his parents and sister were dead, but he didn’t know the details. He’d only heard that they were dead from the whispers he picked up around Ozai-loyalists. They believed that Ozai and his family were killed by Iroh’s order. 

Zuko didn’t even know his father was imprisoned for three years and then died of a stroke. The news about his sister didn’t surprise him. Azula had thrown herself into the melee and Zuko could only close his eyes and shake his head. 

They were  _ children _ . What were they doing in war? 

And his mother...even if Katara didn’t state it outright, Zuko knew that Iroh likely tried to save her. It baffled him. He was so sure that the Fire Lord wanted him dead, but as soon as he thought about his mother being found and dying, he didn’t doubt that Iroh would’ve tried to save her, even if she was the enemy’s wife. 

_ That’s just how he is, isn’t he?  _ A small voice cried out in his head. That was the uncle he knew. 

It was a sleepless night for him as the questions circled his head. Katara’s arguments on why the Fire Lord was exhausting so much just to find him echoed in his mind and he tossed and turned.  _ His _ logic told him that it was because he was a threat to the Fire Lord, but things didn’t add up.

And if he went back to the source of his belief, it would be the Ozai-loyalists who were firm believers that Fire Lord Iroh had Ozai and Ozai’s family killed to take the throne. They wouldn’t entertain the mere suggestion that perhaps the Fire Lord didn’t want his brother’s family to die at all. 

If that was the case, what was Zuko running from all these years?

* * *

“You look terrible.” He looked up with bags under his eyes and Katara placed his breakfast on the edge of his bed. She walked back to the door and opened it. “Bring me a basin with warm water and a towel.”

He heard one of the soldiers confirm the order before Katara returned. “What’s the basin for?” 

She raised a brow and held up a hand to her face. “When was the last time you properly washed your face?” The metal room was equipped with a small urinal and faucet that pumped in cold water, but what could he wipe his face on. “Eat breakfast first while waiting for the basin.”

He didn’t answer, but reached for the tray. That morning’s breakfast was a simple porridge with some dried fish and he didn’t complain. After all, there were days where he’d have less to eat than this one meal. 

Katara had also brought him a small teapot and he savored the hot liquid that warmed his body. He looked down at the small cup in his hands. “Thank you for the tea.” 

“You need to be more hydrated,” she said with a shrug. She narrowed her eyes. “Did you not sleep well?” 

“The bed’s hard.”

“That didn’t stop you before.” 

He pursed his lips together and lifted his eyes. He lowered his empty cup. “Can you blame me for being unable to sleep the closer we get to the Fire Nation?” And his impending sentence - whatever it may be.

He could see the tired lines on her face. They’d been through this many times before. “I’ve told you all I know,” she told him. “I’ve told you over and over that you won’t be killed or even imprisoned. And I’ll be personally ecorting you to the Fire Lord and will make sure no one hurts you.” 

He almost wanted to ask if she was willing to protect him from the Fire Lord herself. A knock came from the door and they both looked towards it. 

“Lady Katara, the water and basin are here with the towels.” 

“Thank you.” Katara went to open the door and she slung two folded white towels over her shoulder and took the basin from a soldier’s hands. “I’ll bring it out when we’re done.” 

He heard the door creak closed and Katara placed a wide, metal basin on the floor beside his bed. She put one towel on the edge of the metal bed and handed him the other. He looked at it and she raised a brow.

“Did you forget how to use a towel?”

“No!” He grabbed it from her hand and scowled. 

Katara let out a small scoff and turned to the tray. “Go ahead and wipe yourself down. I’ll bring this to the kitchen. If you need more water, tell me when I come back.” She got up and left him. 

Zuko eyed the basin and stood up. His chains clanked as he stood over the water and cautiously put part of the towel in. He wrung it out and began to wipe down his face. He closed his eyes and let out a content breath as he relished being able to clean himself properly. 

He untied his belt and tossed it onto the bed. He couldn’t remove his clothes to properly wash himself, but he could still try to wipe himself clean. The chains and cuffs got in his way, but he did what he could. He was so immersed in getting somewhat clean that he didn’t notice Katara entering. 

“Need more water?”

“I can use a little more-” His voice caught in his throat as he whirled around. His towel rose to cover his chest and Katara raised a brow. 

“Okay, move. I’ll replace the water.” If she noticed his red face as she bent the now dirty water out of the basin and moved it to the drain at one corner of the room. She took the empty basin and had a soldier bring her some more warm water. When she placed it back on the bed, she looked back at him. “Go ahead.”

He didn’t move. “Thanks...you can leave.” 

She looked him up and down. His pants were low on his hips and his shirt was open. “All right....I’ll be outside. Call when you’re done.” She turned around and left. Zuko waited until he heard the door lock closed before he continued. 

He was quick knowing she was waiting for him. When he was reasonably satisfied, he dried himself off with the second towel. 

“You can get the basin now!” He shouted over his shoulder as he adjusted his clothes and tied his belt back on. 

When Katara returned, she peeked in and he could’ve sworn she looked somewhat disappointed to find him fully dressed. 

He piled the two towels together and looked at her. “What?” 

Katara let out a heavy sigh. “I should’ve made sure you had a spare change of clothes.” 

Zuko turned away and busied himself with inspecting his worn clothes. “It’s not like I can change.” 

“But we’ll be bringing you to the Fire Lord.” 

His movements slowed. He was quiet for a moment before returning to his bed to take a seat. “What does that matter?” 

Katara crossed her arms over her chest and gave him a knowing look. “You should know that in order to get the palace, we need to cut through the city. Even in a litter, people are going to have their eyes on you. Your first appearance should be that of a prince so they know who you are: a Prince of the Fire Nation.”

He let out a quiet, but cold laugh. “Prince of the Fire Nation....” Imperial prisoner was more like it.

Katara leaned forward to pick up the basin. “I admit, it’s not going to be easy. Everyone is going to be curious about you and you probably won’t get a moment’s rest for a while. Still, I’m sure Lord Iroh will make sure you’re not overwhelmed-” 

“Can you just stop?” Zuko’s eyes crinkled up as he looked at her. He gave her a shake of his head. “I don’t want to hear about it any more.” 

Katara’s shoulders lowered as the pitying look returned. “Is it so bad to hear about what to expect?”

“Expect?” He almost spat out the word. “You think I expect to be welcomed with open arms? That I won’t be immediately escorted to prison?” He rose to his feet and looked at her as if her head was filled with clouds. “You know nothing about what I heard growing up in the colonies. All you know is what the Fire Lord told you.”

The pity in her eyes vanished and was replaced with anger. Her lips turned into a frown as she slammed the empty basin on the edge of the bed.

“And so you think that you’re a better authority on what the Fire Lord wants than the Fire Lord himself?” she asked. She let out a cold laugh. “Based on what? Those people who fled the Fire Nation when the Fire Lord took over? They’re a bit biased, don’t you think?”  
“They know what they believe,” Zuko said in a low voice. “The Fire Lord could tell you anything and you wouldn’t know if he was telling the truth.”

“The same goes for your sources.”

“My sources don’t want me dead.”

“Neither does your uncle.” Katara’s glare hardened. “What makes you think the Fire Lord lied to me?”

“Why else?” Zuko held his arms out. “You’re the best bounty hunter around, aren’t you? It took you two steps to freeze me to the ground. I couldn’t get away, even with lightning.”

“So? I’m a bounty hunter. I work for a bounty.” She lifted her chin and Zuko took a step forward. 

“But you wouldn’t have taken the job if you believed he was going to kill me.” He watched her blue eyes widen as he threw her words back in her face. “So how do you know that he didn’t lie to you to get you to work for him?” 

She inhaled a deep breath, but kept a proud look on her face. “Do you think I’d be tricked so easily?”

“How else would he convince you?”

Her eyes narrowed. “Do you think lying to me or throwing a pouch of gold at my feet are the only ways to convince me?” Her voice lowered. “It wasn’t the Fire Lord who approached me about this. It was my grandfather.”

That broke his focus for just a moment. “What?”

“Master Pakku, an elder from the Northern Water Tribe, is my step grandfather and is friends with your uncle. Grandpa thought it was fruitless, but asked if I could try because he couldn’t stand seeing your uncle moping around, unable to find you,” Katara said in a cold voice. “Are you going to tell me that my grandfather lied to me?” 

He opened his mouth, but no words came out. Of course, he wanted to tell her that the old man on her side was likely in on it, too, but he couldn’t bring himself to call him a liar to her face. 

The air around them grew colder and he swallowed. His silence spoke volumes and Katara shook her head.

“Maybe I should stop talking about it,” she said, drawing her head back. “I can’t get through to you at all. You’re so stuck in your conspiracy and fear that everyone else is either a liar or being cheated.”

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Katara-”

“I didn’t work for months to bring you this far only to be told I’m the delusional one just because you can’t accept that someone loves you.” 

He rushed forward, pulling against his chains as he faced her. He was frustrated and angry that  _ she  _ was frustrated and angry. Maybe he didn’t believe her, but she didn’t understand him at all. His lack of sleep, his confined environment, his fear and doubts, and now her inability to understand him finally reached its peak and he exploded. 

“I spent years struggling on my own in the colonies, Katara! Years constantly over hearing that the Fire Lord wanted me dead to ensure his throne; what do you expect me to believe!” His voice filled the room as pain and anguish tore at him. “That someone loves me? I would _ love  _ someone to love me, Katara, but how can I believe it? Do you think _ years _ of fearing for my life will go away just because you make some promises! Do you? You appeared all of a sudden and froze me in place, then brought me to this ship against my will. You think that will convince me? I’m chained to a wall! I can’t even properly clean myself - I...I....”

His voice was strained as he watched her eyes water. She raised her hands, not carrying that he was still struggling against his chains, as she cupped his face and closed the gap between them. 

Her lips pressed against his and in the heat of the moment, he pressed back against her. His arms were held back as her lips opened for a warm breath and he slid himself between them, welcoming her touch and warmth against him in a desperate bid for some sort of reassurance. 

Reassurance that he’d be kept alive. That he wouldn’t be harmed.

That someone loved him. 

Their breathing was ragged and broken; taken in shallow gulps in between long, passionate kisses. He could taste lingering tea flavor and smell the salt sea air in her hair as he pulled against his restraints, wanting to hold her and on to the safety and affection she promised. 

His heart was beating rapidly in his chest and with each pulse, he received another taste of warmth he hadn’t had since he fled the Fire Nation. Her small hands were soft against him as they moved off his face to rest on his shoulders and hold him steady. For the first time in a long time, he let down his guard and allowed himself to be lost.

He wasn’t sure how much time passed. Only that the cool air of the room came between them as Katara drew her head back. He leaned forward, trying to maintain contact with her for just a moment longer. His chains kept him at bay and his clouded gold eyes looked at hers. Their breaths were still ragged as he watched dozens of emotions run through her face. 

Surprise, confusion, worry. 

His eyes crinkled up. He didn’t want to see those on her face. He didn’t want her distance herself from him. He strained against his restraints, wanting to get closer as a desolate feeling began to rush back in. 

“I...I shouldn't have done that.” Her breathless words reached his ears and his heart sank. 

She took a step back and he almost cried out to stop her. Katara looked unsure of what she’d done and covered her mouth with one of her hands. It was clear she thought she crossed a line. 

“Katara....”

Her head rose and she met his eyes with wide blue ones. “Zuko, I didn’t mean to. I’m sorry-”

“No...no, don’t apologize,” he said. “I....”  _ I wanted it, too.  _

Katara bit her lip and seemed to calm herself. She took a deep breath and let it out. “I said that I wouldn't have taken the job if I knew you were going to be killed,” she said in measured words. She held his eyes. “And until we are both certain that you won’t be, I will stay with you.” 

He wanted to believe in her promise and pushed back the doubt. “And if you’re wrong?” he asked. “If they want me dead?”

Her eyes glistened over and he noticed her hand rise to touch the choker around her neck. “Then I’ll save you.” 

If he could reach her, if the chains weren’t holding him back, he would’ve kissed her again. Instead, he watched her heated face look away as she grabbed the basin and ran out of the room. 

Zuko could still feel his heart racing in his ears as he stared at the door. He closed eyes and fell back against his bed. His arm rose to cover his red, flushed face. 

What had just happened? 

* * *

The next meal she brought him was awkward. They had plenty of interactions where neither spoke, but now it seemed the silence was not only deafening, but made the mere presence of another person the source of discomfort. Zuko couldn’t meet her eyes and Katara made forced small talk. This went on for another two meals.

To Zuko, it could only mean that she regretted what had happened. Perhaps not the promise she made to keep him alive; he was sure she was sincere, but the actions that led up to it. Her soft lips and hot breath were unrestrained and he not only welcomed it, but reciprocated with equal fervor. Now, after placing his tray on one corner of his bed, she kept her distance. 

He couldn't blame her. It was just a momentary lapse of judgment. 

It bothered him that it was a momentary lapse of judgment. 

“How much longer do we have?”

“We should reach the island in three days,” Katara said, her eyes looking away. 

Zuko tensed. “That’s faster than expected.”

“Tides have been good.” 

“The Fire Lord already knows I’m coming?” 

“He was notified through messenger hawk as soon as you were on board.” He finished his meal and placed the dirty dishes on the tray. Katara looked towards it. “Finished?”

He nodded. She took a step forward to pick it up and his chains rattled. He froze as his hand reached for her arm, but stopped before touching her. She snapped her head up, leaning back to avoid contact, and Zuko pulled his hand back, his chest aching.

“About the other day. We can forget it happened.” There. He would clear the air for her. He could pretend nothing transpired if it made her feel more comfortable and things wouldn’t be so strained between them. 

Her face fell. Her eyes seemed to grow dull as the corners of her mouth lowered, hinting at her disappointment. “Oh.” She turned her head away and grabbed on to the sides of the tray. “I’m sorry about that. I wasn’t thinking.”

“No, I didn’t want to let you go, so-”

“What?” 

“I reciprocated. I should’ve held back,” he said. “I’m sorry.” He looked at her and she seemed concentrated. One of her hands rose to touch her lips.

“You did kiss me back....” Did she not notice? Her brows knit together and she looked at him. “Zuko, do you....?” She licked her lips and he watched her little pink tongue dart out. 

“I wasn’t thinking either,” he said quickly as he avoided her questioning look. “I just...it just happened.” 

She looked disappointed once more. “I see...guess we just got caught up on the moment, didn’t we?” She gave him a wry smile. “But, that doesn’t change what I said. I’ll make sure you’re safe and if it looks like they're going to try to harm you, I’ll take you out of there.” 

He thought his heart would be more settled with such a confirmation, but there was still an unexpected emptiness. “Thank you.” 

She nodded her head, offering him a weak smile that didn’t reach her eyes, and lifted the tray off the edge of the bed before turning around. He’d watched her leave many times: from the smithy, from this very room, but he didn’t want her to go. Not then. His chains sounded behind her. She got another step, still well within his range of reach, and he took it. 

His cool fingertips touched her cheek and she turned her head. Her eyes closed as his lips sealed over hers and drew her into an embrace. The tray, with its empty dishes fell to the ground, forgotten as her arms rose and wrapped themselves around his neck. The long, gentle kiss filled their senses; much less heated than their first, but more comforting. As they parted for a breath, she whispered his name.

“Zuko....” He was shaking.

“I don’t want to die.” His voice was weak against her head as his arms tightened around her. “I want to believe you, but I can’t....” Her eyes watered as she clung to him, burying her face against his neck. “I don’t want to die, Katara....”

Her heart ached and she shut her eyes. “Trust me,” she said, her voice hoarse. “Even if you don’t believe what waits for you in the Fire Nation,  _ trust me _ .” Her fingers wove through his hair. “I won’t let anyone hurt you.” 

* * *

Her time spent with him was longer than before and when she left, the soldiers guarding the door asked if everything was all right. 

“We’re just discussing what to expect,” he heard Katara say before the door closed. 

The soldiers seemed to accept it and the next time Katara came to bring him a meal and sit beside him for hours, no one questioned it. She started bringing her breakfast to join him and would sit on his bed, a separate tray on her lap as she munched on some meat buns. 

“When you’re a bounty hunter, you try to get as much information as possible. Having a good idea of what to expect and the various possibilities help you become better prepared,” she said as she sat cross legged on his bed, facing him. She had taken his hands in hers and was making small circles on the back of his hand with her thumbs. “Do you have any questions?” 

If it was a week ago, he’d probably say no and that there was no use to being ‘prepared’ since he was sure he was going to be killed or imprisoned. Those were his only two options and a lifetime of imprisonment was the best case scenario. If he were honest, part of him still felt that way, but sitting in front of Katara with her look of earnest hope and comforting motions made him swallow back his trepidation. 

“How...is the political climate now?” He tried to put into words the more crude: do people hate me and want me dead? 

Katara’s eyes brightened, as if hearing him show interest, no matter how forced, was progress. She told him she’d only stayed there a few months and most of her time was spent doing research on him, but she told him what she knew including the various influential nobles, the current strength of influence of the Fire Sages, and the overall attitude of the people. 

“For the general populace, things generally remained the same, though there was a lot of transition in terms of post-war jobs. Lord Iroh also overhauled the education system as he said that it bordered on indoctrination. He’s done a lot for the overall infrastructure of the country, as well as reputation with the other nations, and in the Caldera, he’s seen in good light. The main opposition seems to be the nobles and military that gained a lot of power during the previous Fire Lords.” 

That was to be expected and Zuko narrowed his eyes. “Is there a lot of opposition to the Fire Lord in the court?”

Katara let out a low breath. “That I can’t be sure of. I spent a lot of time at the palace, but as a guest. I wasn’t privy to what took place in the Fire Lord’s throne room.” 

“I see....”

Katara’s hands squeezed his. “But, I do want you to be careful. If the Fire Lord has enemies in the court, then you’ll have enemies in the court. I know he’ll try to protect you as best as he can, but those old guys have a lot of power and influence for a reason.”

“If they’re still in power, then it means they managed to keep it even after my father fell,” Zuko said. There was a possibility of Ozai-loyalists or at least those who wanted to go back to how it was before Iroh took over. That also meant that he’d be seen as a tool to regain that power. He glared bitterly at the space between them. They were just like those hiding in the Republic who wanted to use him. He spent his whole life purposely avoiding that and it looked like it wouldn’t change. He looked at Katara and nodded, his eyes filled with determination. “I’ll be careful.” 

A resplendent smile filled her face and she leaned forward, pulling his arms closer so he’d lean down enough for her to kiss him. It was a light, small peck, as if to encourage him, but Zuko’s face still turned red and he looked away as soon as she pulled back. He heard her giggle and glanced over. 

Despite the serious topic, his shoulders lowered and he relaxed. “I’ll try to be with you as much as possible, but I know there are times when I won’t be allowed. I’ll try to remain close by, though.”

He’d have to be on his guard then. “If they’re after me, they may target you, too,” he said, starting to frown. That didn’t sit well with him at all. 

She smiled reassuringly and squeezed his hands. “Don’t worry about me,” she told him. “I’m a master waterbender and have some status to help me.” He tilted his head to the side and gave her a quizzical look. “My father is the chief of the Southern Water Tribe. I’m also the granddaughter of a Northern Water Tribe elder and the waterbending master of the Avatar.”

He knew she was from the Southern Water Tribe...he didn’t know she was its Princess - wait, no, he recalled that the Southern Tribe didn’t use that term. In addition, she was not only a friend of the Avatar, but his waterbending master? Weren’t they close in age? That would mean that Katara attained mastery at a young age. And didn’t she dual study in healing and fighting?

Zuko stared at her, allowing the information he was gathering to sink it. “Wow....” 

She laughed and wove her fingers between his. “Looks like you didn’t know.”

“I didn’t...I don’t know a lot about you....” He knit his brows together as he lowered his head. It was embarrassing and almost shameful. Katara had spent months researching him and while he knew it was for her mission, she had still spent painstaking time getting information to find and identify him. And that didn’t include the last few days bringing him food, trying to make him comfortable, and providing him with unfiltered human contact that he was clinging to.

“Well...” She didn’t seem at all upset and almost seemed happy. “What do you want to know?” 

He looked up and saw her smiling softly, sometimes chewing on her lower lip as she stole glances from him. That strong, formidable bender that captured him and gave orders to an entire Fire Nation ship was certainly Katara whom he respected and was secretly intimidated by, but this woman sitting in front of him, holding his hands with sparkling blue eyes was also Katara; the one he first met in that restaurant by the docks.

Knowing she had both facets and that she still chose to treat him with respect and dignity, and give him kindness despite his stubbornness and knowing that the kindness he met in Republic City was not a facade made him feel...happy? Perhaps that was too strong of a word, but it was pleasant. 

He pursed his lips and thought for a moment. Where would he start? Her childhood? Ask about her bending? Part of him also wanted to know why she became a bounty hunter. As he mulled over this, he muttered to himself. “I don’t know...everything, I guess.” 

It slipped from his lips before he could stop it and he snapped his head, looking at her with alarm as the pleasure on her face increased. “All right....” She couldn’t seem to stop smiling and that made him want to smile, though he fought to keep a serious expression. 

Their days alone in his cell of a room passed far faster than the first week. He came to dread when it was time for her to leave and could only wait, antsy, in his bed for her to return the next morning with a breakfast to share with him. In the times when they were sitting and talking or comparing bending, he would forget where he was going and what he feared awaited him. 

His only comfort was that Katara would be with him. Even if that didn’t set all his fears to rest, it was better than nothing and he was willing to trust her. He didn’t want to get his hopes up, but if he was being honest, they were already up. He never wanted to be so wrong in his life.

“Zuko....” He kept his eyes closed as he laid on his bed, his back against the wall as she used his arm as a pillow on the narrow metal surface. 

“Hmmm?” He was full from dinner. Katara hand found some spicy seal jerky and they snacked on it all afternoon. She shifted against him and the fingers running through his hair, relaxing him slowed. 

“We’ll reach the Fire Nation by morning.” He tensed. He felt her lifted her head as she pushed herself into a seated position beside him. “Zuko?” His breath began to grow uneven as she stroked his pale face. “It’s all right, Zuko. I’m right here.” 

“I’m fine....” He choked out those unconvincing words and Katara moved closer, pressing herself against him as she drew his head against hers and rested her forehead against his.

“You don’t have to force yourself,” she told him. “I won’t let anything happen to you. The palanquin will be escorted and I’ll be with you the entire time, even when you meet the Fire Lord.” She kissed him softly. “And he’s eagerly waiting for you to come home, Zuko. He’ll be happy to see you. He’ll probably cry.” 

Her words offered little comfort, but he still drank them up. He gave her a shaky nod of his head, but didn’t answer. She remained with him far longer than usual, once more going over what to expect and assuring him that she would be with him every step of the way. When she left for the night, he tossed and turned on his metal bed. 

Anxiety plagued him and a host of scenarios, all which ended badly for him, filled his mind despite his best attempts to shake them off. He began to mutter to himself ‘it’ll be fine....’, but nothing helped. He got no sleep and was staring at the ceiling when Katara came with breakfast.

She only brought one tray this time. 

“I have some things to do on deck now that we’ve arrived,” she said as she placed his tray beside him. “I’ll be back soon.” 

He gave her a small nod and picked up his bowl of porridge to eat. He waited until she left before putting it down. He didn’t have an appetite and wanted to ignore his food, but he forced himself to eat. Who knew; this could be his last meal.

Zuko ate slowly, waiting and listening for Katara to return.

He’d grown accustomed to the sound of the ship’s motors. They were a constant background noise he’d learned to drown out, but now that they were off, something was missing and it only served to add fuel to the uneasy feeling that filled him. 

Zuko wasn’t sure how long it was since he’d last heard them, but he could hear the now constant sound of people going through the hall outside his room. He sat on his bed, his arms resting on his elbows and he hunched forward with his eyes closed as he waited. Measured breaths left him as he tried to calm himself. 

This was it. This was the day he’d be presented to the Fire Lord and would either be sentenced to death or imprisoned. His heart was tight and despite his best attempts to stop himself, he shook in his seat. 

A heavy knock came from the door once more and Zuko looked up. The door opened and he rose to his feet, expecting Katara. An old man in a uniform came in and cupped his fist in one palm before bowing his head. Two soldiers behind him mirrored the motion.

“Your Highness, we’ve arrived.” 

Zuko didn’t know who this man was, but his voice was familiar. From the look of his uniform, it was likely he was the captain of the ship. The man looked at the two soldiers and stepped aside. “Let him out.” 

The two soldiers marched forward and stood on either side of him. “Please hold your arms out, Your Highness. We’ll remove the chains.”

“And the cuffs on his wrists and feet.” He turned his head back to the door and saw Katara standing by the entrance dressed in unfamiliar red clothes that wrapped around her body. Her hair was down and it was much fluffier than he thought. Her seal skin boots were gone in favor of some more traditional Fire Nation slippers and her wrists and hair were adorned with gold. She’d blend into the people of the capital if not for her water skin strapped across her back and her familiar necklace. Zuko would’ve admired her longer if not for the others in the room. The soldiers hesitated and looked to their captain. Zuko watched Katara glance at the old man, who didn’t answer immediately. “Are we escorting the prince back, Captain Jee, or are we dragging back a prisoner?” 

Her heavy words seemed to get the desired effect and Captain Jee gave the soldiers a stiff nod. Zuko lifted his arms and let out a low breath as the heavy weight of the metal cuffs loosened and they dropped to the floor. He rubbed his wrists as the soldiers freed his ankles. 

“Let me see your wrists.” Katara moved in front of him and the soldiers took quick steps back. Zuko looked at them for a moment before holding up his arms once more. Katara bent some water around them and the water glowed to relieve some of the aching and redness. “Don’t move.”

She knelt down and Zuko could almost taste the worry in the air from the soldiers as Katara checked his ankles and healed the redness caused by the cuffs. When she rose, she looked over at Captain Jee and gave him a nod. He turned to the door and waved for someone to come in. 

A middle-aged woman in a familiar dull pink and maroon uniform walked in with a bundle of neatly folded clothes in her arms. The woman’s eyes crinkled up as she smiled wide at him. She bowed her head. 

“Your Highness, I am from the palace. His Lordship has sent us to dress you in preparation for your arrival.”

His eyes widened and he looked to Katara who had stepped back. “Dress me?” 

The servant woman nodded, enthused, and two more middle aged women appeared from the door along with two male servants carrying in a large metal tub already partially filled with water. They placed it on the corner and Zuko froze. It may have been years since he was a prince, but he knew what ‘dressing him’ meant.

He took a step back. “It’s fine. You can leave the clothes. I can dress myself.”  
The woman’s eyes looked him up and down and she made a face that said she didn’t trust him. His face heated up and he looked to Katara once more. She remained where she stood and tilted her head to the side. 

“The soldiers can leave, Captain Jee,” Katara said, looking at the man. “I will remain with the servants to make sure His Highness  _ properly dresses _ .” 

“No!” Zuko’s arm shot forward and he briefly caught the movement on the soldiers past the servants who were staring at him with eager expressions. The soldiers raised their fists, as if ready to subdue him. Only Katara stood between them and raised a hand with a ball of water.

“It’s fine. I’ll take care of him should anything happen.” Captain Jee looked from her to Zuko and back before bowing once more. 

“We will wait outside, Lady Katara. Your Highness.” The door closed once more and Katara looked back at him.

“Better?”

Zuko scowled. “I said I can dress myself.”

“You should bathe first, too,” Katara said, motioning to the tub. Zuko frowned. He made a subtle movement to lift his arm to his nose and sniff it. All right. Perhaps he did need a bath. 

“Can everyone leave the room first,” he said in a low voice.

The servants looked reluctant. “But, Your Highness. The Fire Lord has ordered us to ready you.”

He narrowed his eyes. “Ready me for what?” The first woman perked up at this and looked excited. 

“The Fire Lord has prepared a banquet to welcome you, Lady Katara, and the Avatar.”

“What?” A banquet? The Fire Lord prepared a banquet for him? And what was more, the Avatar was there? Again, he looked to Katara. 

“I thought you might be nervous,” she said. “Having Aang here may calm you down, so I told him to meet us here.” He could understand the words that weren’t said: no one will hurt you if the Avatar is here. 

“You told him?” he asked. She nodded and he looked at her, confused. “Why?” 

Her eyes looked a bit sad as she smiled. She turned around and faced the wall opposite him. “Please get him ready.”  
“Yes, Lady Katara!” 

“Wait!” The servants descended on him and while deep down, he knew that he could fight them off easily, he couldn't bring himself to strike out at innocent people who clearly bore him no malice. Aside from their sheer determination and enthusiasm, he didn’t feel anything wrong with them. 

He was manhandled in a familiar way, recalling his days as a child prince who hated taking baths and needed to be wrangled in to clean up properly for bed. The water from the tub overflowed as he sank in. He stared at the oiled water as it lapped against his bare chest. They scented his bath? 

The male servants rolled up their sleeves and he shook his head. “No. No, it’s fine. You don’t need to-”

“This is our job, Your Highness. Don’t worry.” 

Water splashed around and after some furious scrubbing, as if to get years of grime off of him. His skin was red when he got out of the tub. The maid servant rushed to wrap him in a dark red robe to help him dry. The male servants carried the tub with the used water out as the female servants dried his hair.

“I can put that one myself.” Zuko couldn’t help but growl as a pair of underclothes were held up. 

“Let him do it,” Katara said. “Just help him with the outer robes.”

He looked towards her, relieved when he saw her still facing the wall. The servants were still reluctant, but stepped back. Zuko gathered all the underclothes he could and shuffled to a corner to change quickly. His face was flushed as he told himself that this sort of dressing was common for nobles and royalty and that he’d just have to get used to it again.

His hands slowed as he tied a silk top closed.  _ Get used to it again? _ He frowned. What was he doing?

“Done?” He turned around and sucked in a sharp breath as he saw that Katara was now facing him. Her cool, blue eyes rose up and down his body and despite already wearing a layer of clothes, he felt somewhat exposed. 

“Your Highness.” The servant drew his attention once more, holding up the outer robes. He took a deep breath. No matter what, he was trapped there. He could only do what was expected of him. If he showed no resistance, perhaps they’d be lenient with him. 

He took a few steps forward and held out his arms to his side. He didn’t see the small smile on Katara’s face as stood to the side, watching the servants finish dressing him. He tried to avoid her eyes. It was one thing to be dressed by servants; it was another to be watched while being so. 

“There, all done!” The head of the maids seemed pleased with their work as she stepped back and admired him. 

“How is it, Your Highness?” Katara asked as she stepped forward to look over his new red robes and gold hair pin. “Comfortable?”

His lips were in a tight line. “No.”

She cracked a small smile, but nodded. “They’re waiting for you,” she said as she faced him with a proud look in her eyes. “Let’s go.” 

He took a deep breath and followed behind her. She crossed over the threshold of the door and Zuko found himself pausing for just a bit. His eyes focused on the metal doorway and he held his breath. One foot went over and then the other. He looked up; he didn’t see the hall coming in. It was painted white to help keep some brightness. 

He turned his head and saw Katara waiting for him a few steps ahead. He didn’t say a word as he followed. He tried not to look around the narrow corridor, as if a child in wonder. He also tried to ignore the soldiers that flanked him as they neared the stairs to the deck. 

“Take your time. Let your eyes adjust,” Katara said as she climbed the stairs. 

The metal creaked under his feet and his hand gripped the metal railing at the side. He could feel the hot, humid air surrounding him. He took a deep breath. Was the Fire Nation always that suffocating? His feet, clad in new pointed shoes, reached the deck. He lifted an arm to shield his eyes from the blinding sunlight. 

He couldn’t hear the ocean around them or the dull hum of the ship. He could hear his own shaky breathing and the faint, distant sound of people. 

“Bring the umbrella!” The head of the servants who dressed him shouted behind him and suddenly, the blinding light was off of him. He could see small, gold tassels hanging from the wooden arms of a red umbrella. He looked to his side and saw the youthful, nervous, but excited face of a young man in a red uniform. 

Zuko blinked and looked around. The ship was docked and there was a large boarding ramp attached to a side of the ship. Soldiers were lined on either side. Not the soldiers that were on board the ship; he recognized the uniform. There were some changes, but those were royal guards. 

“Zuko?” Katara’s voice called out to him and drew him from thoughts. He turned towards her and saw her serene eyes. “I’m right here.” 

His heart slowed for just a moment and he gave her a nod. He took a step forward, and then another, making his way to the ramp. He reached the edge and as he made his appearance, he heard the sound before he realized a crowd had gathered. Hundreds of people were lining the port, held back from the road that led to the palace by more guards and red rope. 

They were cheering and calling his name. Music was being played somewhere in the background and in front of the ramp was a large palanquin decorated with lanterns and tassels and surrounded by royal guards. 

“Welcome home, Your Highness!”

“Long live Prince Zuko!”

“Zuko! Katara! Over here!” Through the yelling and screaming, Zuko heard a familiar voice and turned to the side. He blinked. How could he not notice the massive six-legged bison standing just beside his palanquin and the young man with a bright blue arrow on his head, waving his arms as if he was lost in a crowd and not standing right in front of him?

“Hey, Aang. Sorry for the delay.” Katara answered him casually. She didn’t even bother to give him a greeting hug since she’d seen him just a few days earlier and knew he was going to be there. “Thanks for coming.”

“No problem!” Aang took a step forward, a giddy look of excitement on his face as he looked past Katara and at Zuko. His smile only widened as he stepped back and cupped his fist to his palm and bowed. “Welcome back, Your Highness Prince Zuko.” 

It was strange to see the Avatar so formal with him. Zuko opened his mouth, knowing it was proper to greet him, only instead of words a distracted ‘ah’ came out instead. Aang didn’t push him to say anything else; he just stepped back and let Katara lead him to the palanquin. A guard held back the curtain to give them space to get in.

“Sit first and I’ll sit next to you. Aang and Appa will escort us half a length behind on your other side,” Katara said just low enough so only he could hear.

Zuko stepped on the provided step stool and climbed into the palanquin. It was wide enough for two people and he scooted to the far side so Katara could sit beside him. The guard lowered the curtain and he heard the order to start. The palanquin was lifted smoothly and evenly. 

A warm hand covered his as he gripped the fabric over his lap. He swallowed and closed his eyes. 

“Breathe,” Katara said in a gentle, coaxing voice. “Count to five, then exhale.” He repeated her instructions to calm himself. When he opened his eyes, he felt her move against him as she leaned over to study his likely pallid face. “It’s a bit of a march to the heart of the caldera and the palace.”  
He nodded and fixed his eyes on the sheer, red curtains in front of them. “Did you know there was going to be that many people?”

She smiled a bit as she nodded. “I was on the deck earlier. It looks like everyone is excited to see you.” 

He looked over at her. “I...didn’t expect this.” 

Her eyes softened as she lifted her other hand and cupped the side of his face. “Yeah,” she said, stroking his cheek gently. “I know.” She leaned forward and rested her forehead against his. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, letting her familiar sea salt scent calm his nerves. 

“Um...guys....” Aang’s voice said from outside the palanquin. “People can still see your silhouettes through the curtains.” 

Zuko’s eyes flew open as he pulled away from Katara. His face heated up as she giggled. He turned away, but she didn’t let go of his hand. Instead she remained seated close to him, their thighs touching as she looked out her side. 

“Listen to them cheering,” she said. “It looks like you’ll need to get used to it.”

He didn’t say anything, but dared to look past the curtains and at the crowds on either side of the street. 

“Zuko, you should wave,” Aang said. 

“No, that’s all right-”

“Just lift your hand a little,” Katara said in a coaxing voice. “They did wait here for so long just to see you.” 

He took a deep breath and exhaled before lifting his right arm and moving his hand. Cheering erupted from his side and he furrowed his brows. Such a little thing could get such a reaction? 

“That wasn’t even a wave.” 

“But you acknowledged them,” Aang said. “Everyone wants to be acknowledged.” 

He lowered his arm for a moment, his expression lost in thought before leaning forward and waving to Katara’s side. More people began to cheer and the surprise lessened. The corner of his lip curled up. He looked at Katara and felt his heart quicken. 

There was a warm affection and pride in her eyes. “By the way, you look great,” she said. “Like a real prince.” 

“You, too.” He wanted to scream as Katara bit her lip to keep from laughing. “You look great, is what I meant! I didn’t expect you to be wearing....” 

“With this humidity, you think I’m going to wear furs and skins?” she asked, amused. “No, thanks.” 

Zuko let out a cough and looked to the side. “You...look nice in them.” 

He wanted to crawl into a hole as Katara laughed. She leaned against him, her hands holding one of his. “Thank you.” 

Chatting with her and occasionally waving at the crowd helped take his mind off what awaited him, but when he saw the gate to the inner caldera, he went quiet. Katara and Aang seemed to understand and didn’t probe him to keep talking. Instead, Aang and his bison moved closer to the palanquin, almost shielding Zuko’s side, as if to not let him get overstimulated. 

Beside him, Katara was stroking his arm, but her eyes were sharp and she wasn’t as relaxed against him as earlier. Zuko silently paced his own breathing. 

First the gates to the inner caldera. Then, the walls and gates of the city. Finally, the towering gates of the palace. Drums echoed in the air around him as they were paraded in. The atmosphere outside the palanquin was joyous with music, cheering, and colorful banners waving to welcome him. 

Inside the confines for the litter, Zuko began to tremble. 

“Katara....”

“I’m here.” He swallowed. 

“Whatever happens-”

“Whatever happens, I’ll be right by your side,” she said in a firm voice, as if stopping him from arguing. “Aang and I are here. No one will hurt you.” 

The palanquin stopped. He saw the Avatar’s bison lumber past them and stop just ahead of them. A guard rushed forward and placed a stepping stool on the ground on Zuko’s side. The curtain was drawn. 

One pointed shoe touched the stool and royal guards lining the area stood to attention. Zuko took a deep breath and stepped out. 

“All bow to welcome His Royal Highness, Prince Zuko!” The simultaneous sound of soldiers and guards moving around him made him flinch. He almost took a step back into the palanquin. 

No one came forward. Instead, heads were lowered in a respectful bow before they stood upright again. The courtyard was wide and lined with guards, but there weren’t many others. There was Aang and his bison to his left. Katara was now behind him. 

He lifted his head and saw a wide, stout figure standing in dark red robes standing ahead of him. A large, three pronged flame pin was stuck in his white top knot. 

Zuko couldn’t breathe. 

He remained rooted in his spot as he watched the old man, whose face was the same, but different from how he remembered. There were some age spots, lines around his eyes, and wrinkles on his face. His hair was still black when Zuko last saw him. 

The Fire Lord approached and the entire courtyard was silent. Or at least, Zuko couldn’t hear anything. The old man stopped in front of him, his golden eyes looking at Zuko up and down. 

“Lord Iroh,” Katara’s voice spoke beside him. She sounded happy. “I have brought you back your nephew.” 

Part of Zuko knew he should’ve bowed. He should’ve properly greeted the ruler of the nation with a respectful ‘greetings to the fire lord’. But it wasn’t him that spoke first.

“Zuko.” That same raspy voice was filled with a warm peace reached his ears. Iroh’s eyes began to redden as they glistened over, overcome with emotion.

Zuko felt a pressure between his eyes. It was strange: he thought that when he’d meet this man again, he’d be terrified. That he’d be on his knees at once, begging for mercy. He didn’t expect the tears in the Fire Lord’s eyes to make him forget. He didn’t expect the aged, tired, and worn face to look at him with worry, pain, and desperation. He wasn’t as surprised as he thought he’d be not seeing the anger, the hate, or the disdain.

In the very countenance of the Fire Lord, he could see it. He could see what he had secretly hoped for; there was acknowledgment and love. His lips trembled. “Uncle....” 

The next thing he knew, strong arms were around him, pulling him down and holding on to him for dear life as a broken, hoarse voice choked with sobs cried against him. 

“Zuko...my boy...welcome home.” 

* * *

In the Fire Nation, it was always hot, just varying levels of hot. When they arrived, it was hot and humid with thunder and rain storms every few days. Now, it cooled a bit and the humidity lessened. It was the start of the ‘dry’ season. 

“Your Highness, if you can look over that proposal we discussed.” A nobleman caught him on his way out of the meeting room, looking hopeful. Zuko identified him easily: Lord Tian’s eldest son who was taking over for him now that the old man was ill. His family had made considerable wealth during the war years through iron and manufacturing and after the war, took a large hit. 

Lord Tian kept trying to pester his uncle for contracts to continue building weaponry, but doing so would raise the brows of the other nations. When younger Lord Tian took over, Zuko was sure that he’d be even more annoying without the tact learned from age. To his surprise, Lord Tian began to pester him instead. And not about weapons.

“I’m already looking at the proposal, Lord Tian,” Zuko replied, keeping his voice calm and courteous. It was important that he didn’t lose his temper with his uncle’s court, no matter how trying. Any minor crack in his royal demeanour would be made into a huge character fault and where he was right now, it wasn’t something he could afford. Thus, he gave the appearance of being taciturn, when he really just didn’t want to open his mouth and embarrass himself. “The summary is very promising, but I’d like to review the details a bit more. I have some questions I’m putting together, but overall, I’m quite pleased with your proposal to use the scrap iron for infrastructure works.”

Those weren’t empty words. Zuko may have strived to be calm and neutral, but he was clear on what he liked or disliked. Katara told him that people would try to push his limits and he needed to make things clear sooner rather than later. Aang said that no matter what he did, someone would always take it badly, but he shouldn’t act like a tyrant about it. After all, he had a unique opportunity to present himself as a composed adult rather than a child who could be manipulated. 

Still, Zuko would keep his thoughts to himself and bring them up to his uncle to get his opinion first. The Fire Lord was more than happy to see this, as it showed Zuko’s caution and humility, but willingness to act and take responsibility. 

Young Lord Tian looked relieved. “Thank you, Your Highness. I look forward to your questions and will be readily prepared.” 

He bowed and Zuko gave him a small nod. He gave a few more acknowledging ones to various court members as he passed the wide hall before the meeting room. A few more came to talk to him and a scribe rushed to give him a reminder that he had a meeting the next morning. 

He didn’t show it on his face, but Zuko wanted to cancel it. 

Lately, his uncle had been giving him a little more responsibility in departments he felt Zuko could flourish in, which included public works and infrastructure. Having lived a good portion of his life in the Republic, Zuko had seen things that weren’t commonplace in the Fire Nation and made the lives of its people more comfortable. He did have things he could contribute.

Almost all the court members that answered to him were younger and more open minded than their elders. Iroh wanted him to gain more experience, but he wasn’t going to throw Zuko into a moose lion’s den. Zuko was also taking his new role very seriously. Perhaps, a small part of him needed to do so believing that if he was a good heir, Iroh would be pleased with him and keep him. 

It was warped thinking his uncle would disapprove of, but it was better than believing his uncle wanted to kill him. Even now, he was overly sensitive to the gazes of others and found himself suspecting people who were trying to get close. He was slowly getting used to his new position and environment. 

His uncle played a major role in ensuring his comfort. The Avatar had stayed for three weeks and his presence and new friendship with Zuko gave him another shield. Who would openly attack the Avatar’s friend, after all? It made some courtiers think twice. 

Zuko opened the door to his villa and looked around. He frowned and took a step back out the main doors. “Mo Sang, did she go to dinner without me?” 

The two royal guards stationed at the front entrance of his villa were two of three dozen hand picked by Iroh to guard Zuko. They also wore helmets without face coverings and at Aang’s insistence, had personally trained with him and Zuko to build a comradery. For the soldiers who admittedly didn’t expect much from a prince who’d been overseas for roughly a decade, they were impressed by Zuko’s firebending, which was far more fluid and flexible than the standard they knew. 

Zuko was serious, but a humble individual who acknowledged mistakes and faults, as well as would occasionally lose his temper. He’d been very distant with them to begin with, but the Avatar’s joint firebending practice and sparring helped ease the initial tension. To the guards who had been watching him closely for many weeks, they had a favorable impression. Truly, this prince was Lord Iroh’s blood. Even after the Avatar left, they would train with Zuko on rotation.

However, it took at least three of them to hold equal footing to their new master’s other... “friend”. Honestly, none of them believed she was just a “friend”. 

“Lady Katara had to get some snacks earlier, but returned, Your Highness. She may be on the roof again,” the guard said, dutiful. 

Zuko nodded. Katara’s days used to be filled with following him around. She kept her word to stay as close as possible and people wondered if she were his shadow. As his official duties grew and he grew a little more comfortable, she began to ease away. She’d spend time bending or in the royal archives, as well as exploring the city if he was in an all day meeting and Iroh was present. Zuko still felt like something was missing when she wasn’t in visual range, but he couldn’t complain. 

Katara was still around for his sake and he wasn’t trapping her. She was free to go where she pleased when he was indisposed. Of course, he would always come back and look for her as soon as he was free. Sometimes, she’d be in the garden feeding the turtle ducks. Sometimes, she was in her room, pouring over some rare scroll she found.

And then sometimes, she would sneak to the rooftop to pretend the world didn’t exist and eat snacks. 

Zuko tossed his heavy outer robes on to a chair as he passed through the villa to get to the central garden. He walked to a large tree and climbed up. He could already see her laying across the red tiles, eating what looked like a tart. 

“Done with your meeting?” she asked, without looking towards him. Zuko carefully walked across a large branch and on to the rooftop. 

“The seawall project on the eastern end is almost complete and we’ve settled on the commercial port development aspects,” he said as he made his way to where she was. She had a small basket that had some fruit and jerky. He took a seat and opened his mouth, only to have an egg tart shoved in.

His eyes widened as Katara chuckled next to him. “Ba Sing Se style egg tart,” she said. “June used to love them and taught me how to make them.” 

He nodded as he bit into it and swallowed. The smooth, rich creaminess was different from the tarts he was used to. “The head chef let you into his kitchen again? After last time?” Once, Katara had an extreme need for some Southern Water Tribe delicacy and she’d found the stubby durian urchins at the market by the ports. She’d brought them back to the royal kitchens and when she cracked one open, the pungent smell made the entire kitchen staff evacuate. 

She had been banned since. 

Katara rolled her eyes. “Grandpa is here, so they made an exception so I can check on the food they prepared,” she said. Pakku had arrived the day before and monopolized Katara’s time, making Zuko feel anxious. He resorted to sitting in Pakku’s guest villa, being ignored by the Elder until Katara said it was getting late.

The scornful look Zuko got when he jumped up and told Katara he’d walk her back to  _ their  _ villa could’ve melted an iceberg. He couldn’t look at the old man without feeling as if he’d be ripped apart. 

“I see....” Zuko swallowed the last of his egg tart. “How long is he staying?”

“A few more days. He wants me to come home with him and visit the family.” 

The blood in his veins froze. He turned towards her with a panicked look. “You’re leaving?” 

Katara chewed on some jerky and didn’t seem at all bothered by this. “Not right now, but yeah. Grandpa does make a point; I haven’t gone back in a while. Even Sokka’s home from the Republic.” 

He gulped and lowered his eyes. “I see...that’s true.” 

“It would be good to visit before I do another mission,” she said as she squinted. “That way I’m not rushed. Then again, if I’m not rushed, they’ll probably try to get me to stay longer.” She chuckled at this, but Zuko remained feeling discomfort at the idea of her leaving. 

He’d always known it was coming, of course, but when she mentioned it with more solid plans, the reality hit him. She’d leave...and then start bounty hunting again. His eyes narrowed. Her last job - finding him - took her almost seven  _ months _ . She’d be busy; when would she come back? Would she even come back? His stomach began to twist as his heart rate quickened. 

The thought of not seeing her for so long after living with her the last few months and seeing her face every day made him feel cold and empty. He needed her to come back

“If...if I have a job for you, will you come back?” 

“What?” 

Zuko swallowed hard and looked down at the ground. “You have to go back to work, but if I have a job for you, will you take it?” 

Katara furrowed her brows and cocked her head to the side. “Do you have a job for me?” 

He wanted her to stay, but as his eyes met her curious ones, he swallowed the lump in his throat and looked away. 

“No.” How could he offer her a job to stay with him? What sense did that make? She was a bounty hunter; her job was to go off and bring people back, just as she did with him. And she was good at it. Great at it. “But for future reference.”

She smiled and chuckled a bit. She followed his gaze ahead of them, looking out at the relaxing view of the caldera city over the palace’s walls. “If you ever need me, I’ll come.” Her head rested against his shoulder and he glanced down. A small smile was on her dark pink lips and she looked peaceful.

His chest began to throb as he whispered, unheard by anyone else. “I need you.....” 

“Hmmm?” She looked up at him. “Did you say something?” 

He shook his head. “No, nothing.” She nodded and looked back at the city. The silence between them was calm and comfortable; nothing forced or tense, just tranquil and he happily lost himself in the moment. 

“Zuko.”

“Yeah?”

“I’m sorry for dragging you here against your will. I know it was terrifying and that you really believed that Lord Iroh would....” She trailed off, but he understood. She lowered her eyes. “I really didn’t want to hurt you.”

His large, calloused hand moved over her soft brown one resting between them and he wove his fingers between hers. “I know.” 

“You’re not comfortable here, are you?” There was regret in her voice and Zuko stared down at their intertwined fingers. She hadn’t moved away from him. He pursed his lips.

“I wasn’t comfortable in Republic City either,” he said in a hoarse voice. His eyes crinkled up. “Everyday, I was looking over my shoulder. I was avoiding soldiers and...and  _ waiting _ .” 

“But is this any better?” Katara shifted and turned to look at him. “You’re still looking over your shoulder. You look nervous every time you go see your uncle.” 

He knew considering his past trauma, it was understandable, but he still felt guilty suspecting Iroh of ulterior motives when every action, every word, every look that man gave him was filled with love and hope. He knew deep down his Uncle Iroh was still his Uncle Iroh, but habits were hard to drop. 

“It’ll pass with time,” Zuko said, trying to reassure her. In truth, he wasn’t completely sure he’d ever fully be free of his wariness, but in the past few weeks, he’d stopped jumping at every little noise in the dark and the surreal feeling of being bowed to and acknowledged as His Royal Highness didn’t make him stop and reflexively deny them. It was slow progress, but his uncle was supporting him. 

Katara chuckled. “Then the next time I come, I expect to see vast improvements.” She rested her head back against his shoulder. “Even if you’re still getting used to it, I hope you can come to see the Fire Nation as your home again.” 

“The next time you come, huh?” His chest was tight. “When will that be?” 

“I don’t know. I don’t have any new missions right now. I don’t take a new one until I finish my current one.” 

“Didn’t you finish when you brought me here?” He looked down at the top of her head. They’d arrived almost four months earlier. He’d assumed that once she felt he was relatively comfortable with his position, she’d leave for whatever bounty she had lined up. 

“And didn’t I say that I’d stay with you and make sure you’re safe?” she asked, tilting her head to look at him. She patted his thigh. “Don’t you think you are now?” 

“No.” His answer seemed to surprise her.

“No? But weren’t you just saying you were getting used to-”

“Becoming used to something doesn’t mean I feel safe,” he said. Katara frowned. She sat up straight beside him. 

“Then, do you still think Lord Iroh will imprison you or try to sentence you to death?” She looked confused about this and he couldn’t blame her. 

“I don’t think my uncle would, no,” he said. “My uncle may not want me hurt, but I’m sure there are others. There will always be others.” 

She lowered her eyes. That didn’t escape her. There were plenty of, no matter how few, people in the court that wanted Iroh out and either saw Zuko as a tool to use or be discarded. He had his own guards and escort Iroh personally screened for that reason and they could be with him at all times because of this. 

“This isn’t really much better than being in the Republic, huh?”

“No, it is,” Zuko said. He leaned forward and lifted a hand to stroke her cheek. “Living in fear an ocean away was different. At least now I know where I stand with Uncle.” He smiled a bit. “And working with customers makes you learn to read people better. Those old guys aren’t as clever as they think. They’re closer, but if they can watch me,  _ I _ can watch  _ them _ .”

Katara smiled with some relief in her eyes and rubbed her cheek against his hand. “Do you need back up? Maybe I should stay,” she joked. 

Zuko didn’t pull away, his intent gaze taking in the sight of her against the sunset. Distracted, he responded quietly. “Maybe you should.” Their eyes seemed to widen at the same time as Zuko froze and Katara’s mouth parted. 

“What?”  
How could he feel all the blood draining at his body at the same time as his face burning with mortification? He sat stiff across from her, unmoving as his mouth opened, but no words came out. 

Katara leaned forward, looking into his eyes. “Do you want me to stay?” 

His mouth flopped open and closed. “N...yes...? No.” He shook his head and pulled back. “No, you don’t have to stay. I mean, if you want to, yes. You’re more than welcomed to stay. But if you don’t, and I’m sure you don’t; you’re a bounty hunter after all-”

“Zuko.” Her voice was firm and cut him off. He hesitantly met her eyes. She squinted. “Do  _ you _ want me to stay?” 

His shoulders sank as he looked despondent. “I want you to stay.” 

Her eyes began to redden. She swallowed hard. “Why?” 

For his protection? To be an emotional crutch? He could see those questions in her eyes and he needed to make himself clear; to not pull what he usually did and massively make a fool of himself while angering the other party. 

“I don’t need you to protect me.” His voice was tight and he didn’t move. “You don’t have to always follow me or even support me, but I like it when you’re near and I’m glad you’re there when I need it. I just....” His eyes lowered and landed on her necklace. His eyes squinted and he reached forward to touch it gently. 

Katara followed his longing gaze and watched his arm reach for her. She could feel his fingers against her skin as they brushed against her necklace. Without a word, she suddenly turned around and sat with her back to him. 

“Take it off.”

“What?” Zuko was caught off guard. 

“The necklace. Take it off.” He never saw her without her necklace since he fixed it. He didn’t dare touch it again. When he didn’t undo the latch, Katara frowned. “Zuko-”

“No.” If he took it off, did that mean she didn’t want what he made? That she didn’t want  _ him _ ? 

“Zuko,” Katara’s voice softened. “Just undo the latch. I’m not mad.” 

She seemed to add the last part for his sake, but he was still reluctant to do so. His hands rose and he hesitated before pinching the metal fasteners and unclasping it. It loosened and he held the ends to keep it from falling, fully expecting her to pull it off. She made no move to touch it. 

“Now, put it back on.” 

He was stunned for a moment, before bringing the fasteners together, fumbling for a bit as he tried to steady his hands. When it was firmly secured, he let it go and pulled his hands back. Katara touched the next at her throat and turned around, a wide smile on her face. 

“Katara....?”

“It’s official,” she said. “I’m going to have to stay.” His eyes widened as his heart leapt to his throat.

“What?”

“We don’t practice it in the south, but you know...under the right circumstances, tradition isn’t all that bad,” Katara said, leaning closer. 

Zuko’s mind was still reeling. “You...you’re going to stay? What about bounty hunting?”

Katara shrugged. “I have many interests. I was getting a bit tired of running around, anyway. I can use a bit of a rest.” 

He licked his lips. “With me?” 

“If you don’t mind.”

“I don’t!” He grimaced at his own overeager reaction. Katara laughed and wrapped her arms around him. She buried her face against his shoulder as his arms rose and carefully placed themselves around her. “I want you to stay with me, Katara.”

“Mmm....” She closed her eyes and smiled as she listened to the steady beating of his heart against his chest. “I’m glad I found you, Zuko.” 

His arms grew tightered and he kissed the side of her head. A small smile graced his lips as he relaxed against her. “Yeah...I’m glad you found me, too.” 

* * *

“I didn’t expect you to come without reason,” Iroh chuckled to himself as he set up the wooden board on a low table. Another old man with white hair stood by the open screen doors to the garden with narrowed eyes looking towards the building in the distance and the two heads that peeked over the top. 

A thin lipped frown was on his face. “What without reason?” Pakku said in an irritated voice. “My granddaughter is here, is she not?” 

Iroh’s eyes crinkled up with mirth. “She is. Are you worried that she wouldn’t be treated well?”

Pakku scoffed, silently willing the two on the rooftop to sit further apart. “If anything, she’s been treated  _ too  _ well by that nephew of yours.”

Iroh set up the pai sho board and glanced out the doors. He could see the small silhouettes of Zuko and Katara on the roof in the distance. He smiled, but a sadness lingered in his eyes. When Bumi suggested that he ask Katara to find Zuko, Pakku had arrogantly declared that if the boy was alive, his granddaughter would find him. 

And even though a small part of him restrained himself in case she failed, he had still placed a lot of hope on her. The dutiful young woman was brought forth by the old man in front of him and it didn’t take any convincing for her to take the request. He wasn’t sure if Katara even believed Zuko to be alive, but she still dove into her work.

She spent months in the Fire Nation finding out everything she could about him and he spared no expense in supporting her search. When he received word that she’d found him and was bringing him back, Iroh had broken into tears. He prayed that Zuko was well and that he held no resentment and would come to know how much Iroh loved him. 

Still, when the Avatar arrived and told him that Katara asked him to come because she was worried about Zuko having lingering paranoia due to being away for so long, Iroh had prepared himself for the worst. Perhaps, Zuko would hate him. Reject him, or worse, fear him. 

He was not blind to his nephew when he arrived. He was nervous and jumpy. His eyes darted around, suspecting everyone who passed and Iroh’s heart ached. He did what he could to make sure Zuko was comfortable and went out of his way to make sure the Avatar and Katara were present whenever he met with Zuko. 

There was still a long way to go, but every now and then, Iroh saw a glimpse of the nephew he remembered and was hopeful. He was also fully aware that it was Katara who worked the hardest to not only bring his nephew back, but to  _ bring his nephew back _ . 

“I am very thankful to Katara, Pakku. And to you,” Iroh said. “You both have done me and the Fire Nation a great service that I can never repay.” 

Pakku took a deep breath and squinted. “I was given the opportunity to help raise her,” Pakku said as he kept his eyes outside. “I taught her the basics of bending as soon as she showed the signs and helped her refine her abilities. I only want her to live a good life, safe and with someone who will love, respect, and support her.” He turned around to face Iroh. “Will your nephew be able to do that?” 

Iroh gave him a small nod and smiled thoughtfully. “I believe so.” 

Pakku took his seat across from Iroh. He looked down at the board and Iroh motioned for him to make the first move. “Then as long as he treats her well, I have no qualms.” He lifted a piece. 

Iroh rubbed his chin before countering. “He will, old friend.”

“If he doesn’t....” Pakku frowned and Iroh tried not to smile. “Then he better be prepared. No matter where he hides, I’ll find him.” 

Iroh held back a laugh. “Is that so?”

“Don’t laugh,” Pakku said as he moved another piece. Iroh quickly countered. “After all, my granddaughter has a gift for finding others long thought missing. It took me years, but I still found my Kanna.” He made a move and Iroh furrowed his brows. Pakku smiled at Iroh’s confusion. “Where do you think Katara got it?” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> #1 - I’m sorry it took so long for me to update. Nothing too bad came up: there were a few things that were emotionally taxing, but then I just got lazy and enjoyed the warm comfort of my bed and WFH from it too much. (Commuting will never be the same....)
> 
> #2 - I regret having hoped for 3 chapters because now this one is super long to try to fit it all in. From the bottom of my heart: my bad.
> 
> #3 - Thank you all so much for your patience and your kindness. It has been a rough year for all of us and I hope my brain dribble was able to ease it just a bit, if only for a moment. I hope that this year is far better and no matter what, keeps you all safe and happy. 
> 
> #4 - With one exception, I’ll be taking a break from fic writing as I haven’t gotten anywhere with writing novels. Sometimes, one is gripped with the guilt of abandoning the stories and characters of which they are the creator of. Sure, aside from me and a few close friends, no one will read them, but still, I should work on them for the sake of finishing. (Let’s see how long this determination lasts this time.)
> 
> #5 - Thank you for reading my REVERSE CAPTURE fic. ;D 
> 
> Much Love,  
> <3  
> DamageCtrl


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